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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



PRESENTED BY 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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* CINCINNATI: 

ROBERT CLARKE & CO. PUBLISHERS, 65 WEST FOURTH ST. 

1867. 

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Southern j-^rance and Spain. 



5 




O N T E N T S . 

CHAPTER I. 
Lyons i 

CHAPTER II. 
Avignon ■ 14 

CHAPTER III. 
Nismes — Pont du Gard . . 21 

CHAPTER IV. 
Toulouse — Bordeaux — Pau — Bayonne 29 

CHAPTER V. 
Irun — Burgos - 37 

CHAPTER VI. 
Valladolid — Escorial 49 

CHAPTER VII. 
Madrid rr 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Toledo — La Mancha 70 



CONTENTS.— Continued, 

CHAPTER IX. 
Cordova 8i 

CHAPTER X. 
Seville 86 

CHAPTER XI. 
Cadiz — Gibraltar 99 

CHAPTER XII. 

Malaga 112 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Granada — Madrid — Saragofsa — Barcelona . . . i 20 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Leaving Spain 131 

CHAPTER XV. 
General Remarks 139 




REF ACE . 



J 



This little book^ composed during my leisure 
hours^ is mainly transcribed from letters and 
a journal written during a short trip through 
Southern France and Spain, 

I can only hope that its readers will find as 
much amusement in the perusal^ as I have found 
in the writing of it. 

Cincinnati^ March^ 1867. 



Chapter I. — Lyons. 




the 25th of January, 1865, we left 
J/^^^ Paris by rail, for Lyons. The dis- 
^^ tance is 3 id miles, which we traversed 

in about 11 hours. And just here, at the 
beginning of our travel, I wish to record my 
opinion — founded upon considerable expe- 
rience — that the commonly accepted theory 
that second-clafs cars upon the Continent 
are as good as the first, as well as much 
cheaper, is a delusion and a snare. They 
are cheaper, but are neither so luxurious, so 
comfortable, nor so clean; while they gene- 
rally contain a clafs of people who are not 
so agreeable to meet as those traveling in 
the first-clafs cars. Of course, if one is 
under the necefsity of studying economy in 



A 



2 Southern France and Spain. 

traveling, he must take second-clafs cars in- 
stead of first, and small rooms in retired 
quarters, in the place of apartments more 
commodious and convenient, and dine at 
plain restaurants instead of at the best, and 
be content therewith, like a sensible man; 
but he should not attempt to make every 
one else believe that he would not have 
something better if he could afford it. 

The cars are luxurious coaches; the buf- 
fets^ or eating houses, on the route, unlike 
those in America, are clean and attractive — 
provided with snow-white table-cloths and 
napkins, good food, table wine, first rate 
coffee, attentive waiters, and withal, reason- 
able charges. Ample time is allowed for 
meals, and every five minutes is sounded 
through the room the voice of a waiter, 
crying out the number of minutes that re- 
main before the starting of the train, so 
that no one is hurried. Hot water foot- 
stools are in each car, warming the feet, and 
leaving the head cool, and there are no cries 
of boys, passing through the cars with ''pies, 
pies, pies,'' ''lozenges, two cents a roll,'' 



Chapter I. — Lyons. 3 

^'figs, pop-corn and jujube paste," and sim- 
ilar provocations to dyspepsia. Guards are 
ready, in uniform, at every station, to 
answer questions; there is no hurry or 
confusion, and thus the disagreeablenefs of 
traveling is mitigated as far as pofsible. 

The country through which we pafsed is 
fertile, and filled with gardens, and the trees 
are trimmed, as is the custom in France, so 
as to yield the greatest amount of small 
branches tor firewood. The hills pafsed in 
traversing Burgundy are literally vine-clad. 
The railroad, like those in England, is built 
with great care and expense, with bridges as 
carefully finished as if the stonework were 
for a dwelling house, and with embankments 
either sodded or walled with stone. 

About ten o'clock in the evening we ar- 
rived, and went to the Hotel de V Europe^ 
where, on the second floor, we secured rooms 
both comfortable and of moderate price. 
The town is the second in France in point 
of population and wealth. It stands on 
both banks of the Saone and the Rhone, 
but the larger part occupies the tongue of 



4 Southern France and Spain, 

land inclosed between the two. The older 
portion has narrow and dirty streets, and an 
atmosphere of fog and smoke hangs over 
the city, as in the English manufacturing 
towns, or as in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati; 
while the newer portion has wide streets, 
parks, trees, and blocks of stately buildings. 
The next morning after arrival, we set 
forth to explore the city, refusing all offers 
of a commifsionaire^ having previously thor- 
oughly studied the map and description of 
it. After visiting the cathedral, we threaded 
narrow streets, and climbed steep hills, wind- 
ing between walls of which the form and hight 
recalled the feudal age, when they were built ; 
pafsed the Hospital oi Antiquailles^ occupv- 
ing the site of the Roman palace in which 
Claudius and Caligula were born — which has 
given way now, by a sort of poetical justice, 
to an Hbpital des Incurables — until Vv^c came 
to the Chapelle de Fourvieres^ surmounting a 
high hill which overlooks the town and sur- 
rounding country, and even affords, on a 
clear day, if is said, a view of Mont Blanc; 
but the day was cloudy and the air filled 



Chapter I. — Lyons, 5 

with smoke and fog, so that we could but 
dimly discern the city at our feet. The 
tower of the Chapel is surmounted by a 
statue of the Virgin, who is said to have 
stayed the spread of the cholera in Lyons 
many years ago, while the inner walls, from 
ceiling to floor, are literally covered with 
pictures of all sorts and sizes, hung there 
as votive offerings, in gratitude for special 
favors granted bv the Blefsed Virgin to suf- 
fering; mortals. Amono; them are several 
small copies of the Immaculate Conception, 
by Murillo, that hangs in the Gallery of the 
Louvre. There are also a large number of 
small waxen models of legs and arms, saved 
to their owners by the Virgin, in answer to 
their prayers. « 

After a long walk through other narrow 
streets, and down steep declivities and long 
flights of stone steps, we were again on the 
banks of the Saone, which rushes swiftly 
through the town, as if impatient to join 
her stately lord, the Rhone, who waits be- 
low; and crofsing the bridge Fourveueille^ 
stopped for a moment to look at the women 



6 Southern France and Spain, 

who lined the sides of boats moored along 
the banks, busily employed in washing 
clothes. We soon attracted their attention, 
and, like all French people, desisting from 
their labors, they indulged in a good, long, 
full stare at us. I lifted my hat in ac- 
knowledgement of their kind attention, and 
we proceeded on our way, and soon, crofs- 
ing the Place des Terreaux^ soaked in the 
days of the Revolution by the blood of the 
victims of the guillotine, we entered the 
Museum. Here are manv relics of the Ro- 
man age of Lyons; among others, the 
bronze tables, containing the speech made 
by Claudius, when Censor, in the Roman 
Senate, A. D. 48, on the motion that the 
communities of Gallia Comata should be 
admitted to the privileges of Roman citi- 
zens. The letters are beautifully and clearly 
cut, and as sharp and legible as if Time had 
not been pounding at them for eighteen cen- 
turies. There are also two or three rooms 
filled with paintings and drawings of French 
artists, among which we especially admired 
some crayon sketches by Menifsier, of Metz, 



Chapter L — Lyons, 7 

exceedingly well done; an Interior Rustique^ 
by Bail; Henri de Guise^ (Balafre) sworn by 
his mother to revenge his father's death, by 
Pierre Chas. Comte; Far Niente^ a picture 
of an Italian peasant girl, dreamily leaning 
against a wall in the sunlight; and two small 
pictures by M'lle Felicie Megret — the one 
of Galileo in his study — the other of the 
house of a peasant. There was also a bas- 
relief worth mentioning, by the Marquis 
de Parcieu, ^'Mignon aspirant an cie^ after 
the painting of Ary Scheffer. 

In the public square, fronting the Mu- 
seum, as well as in the Place Imperial and 
Place de Bellecour, is a beautiful fountain, 
always playing. The contrast between the 
old buildings, walls, and streets, on the west 
of the Saone, and the wide avenues, spacious 
quays, and lofty, elegant buildings, on such 
streets as the Rue Imperiale^ and the quays, 
is that between old France— venerable with 
age and laden with the wealth of History 
accumulated in the progrefs of centuries — 
and modern France, with the newnefs and 
lavish elegance that has followed after the 



8 Southern France and Spain, 

Revolution. The many tints that the hand 
of History had laid, ag-e by ag-e, upon the 
canvas of France, were, for the most part, 
obliterated in the latter part of the seven- 
teenth century, by the brush of the Revo- 
lution, soaked in blood, and in Lyons, as 
in Paris, the marks of antiquity appear 
more remarkable than those of the present 
century. 

Arising one morning, and looking out 
the window, we saw one of those sights 
which a foreign and Catholic country alone 
affords. Along the quays of the Saone, 
and the bridge of Tilsit acrofs it, w^ere lines 
of men, boys, and women, all with wooden 
shoes, and the women with white caps, anx- 
iously awaiting something that they stretched 
their necks to see, down the street. The 
bells of the churches were slowly tolling, 
and soon appeared a long line of Sisters of 
Charity, clad in their simple black gowns 
and white hoods, marching in single file on 
each side the street. Following these was a 
great number of priests, bareheaded, bear- 
ing lighted candles, the choir in their midst 



Chapter L — Lyons. 9 

chanting slow, solemn music, with deep bafs 
voices, accompanied by a brafs instrument, 
as in the church of St. Roch, in Paris. 
Next came a coffin, covered with black cloth, 
fringed with white, borne by men drefsed in 
black, who were flanked by others, answer- 
ing to our pall-bearers, all carrying lighted 
candles. The remainder of the procefsion, 
which was very long, consisted of citizens, 
also on foot, but marching close together 
in pairs, not separated on each side of the 
street, like the sisters and priests. It was 
doubtlefs the funeral of some eminent re- 
ligious person, and was certainly a very 
strange and picturesque sight for American 
eyes. 

On another day, sitting by our parlor 
window, looking out upon the quay and the 
bridge, we saw just below us a vegetable 
market — an open space where a number of 
peasant women were selling their cabbages, 
onions, and similar vegetables. The buy- 
ers flock around, and in an hour or two all 
the articles are sold, and men and women 
disappear. Picturesque they are — with short 

B 



lo Southern France and Spain, 

drefses of some dark stuff which knows not 
crinoline, a huge pair of sabots below, and 
above a sack, or a handkerchief of gay col- 
ors, brought round the neck, over the breast, 
and fastened at the girdle. Some have the 
white caps worn by a majority of the French 
women of the lower clafs, and others wear 
wide flats of straw, with ribbons or without, 
while here and there appears a head-drefs of 
strange form — a flat, round sort of plate, 
quite large, fastened in some mysterious 
manner on the top of the head, with a round 
tower of about two inches in diameter, and 
three in height, in the center, all covered 
with a sort of coarse black lace, of which 
also square flaps, six or eight inches in 
length, hang at the back of the head. 

Men and women walk briskly along, with 
well filled baskets poised on the tops of 
their heads. Here goes a man supporting a 
couple of parallel sticks, one on each side of 
him, on the ends of which are built up small 
mountains of boxes; there goes another, in 
a blue smock frock, pushing before him a 
large tray, on two wheels, filled with apples 



Chapter I, — Lyons. 1 1 

and oranges for sale ; and through the 
crowd come a couple of priests, with long 
black gowns, white neckcloths, and wide, 
black felt hats, turned up at the sides, 
like the cocked hat of olden times, closely 
followed, perhaps, by a Zouave, with his 
dashing little cap, red trowsers and white 
gaiters. Now, crofsing the bridge, ap- 
pear the market women on their home- 
ward way, in little two-wheeled carts, drawn 
by little donkeys ; and at the end of the 
train walks another on foot, leading her 
little donkey, laden with a couple of large 
panniers. 

Such were some of the sights our windows 
afforded, while over the river rose the 
heights of Fourvieres^ where, crowning the 
highest steeple, stands the gilded statue of 
the Virgin, stretching out her protecting 
hand, as if in benison upon the city at her 
feet. 

One morning we engaged a carriage for 
half a day and drove about the town. After 
a call upon our banker, — a very courteous 
old gentleman, head of one of the principal 



1 2 Southern France and Spain. 

silk-houses, — who received me very politely, 
and related with great satisfaction that ex- 
President Van Buren had once sat upon the 
same sofa that I occupied, — we drove through 
the park, a tastefully laid out space, adorn- 
ed with trees and a small lake, on which 
some swans were swimming ; visited the 
Jardin des Plantes^ traversed the principal 
streets, and saw the several squares, with 
fountains playing in the centres, and finally 
came home to dine at fixve o'clock. After 
dinner we decided to visit the Grand T' he atre^ 
to see the Barber of Seville, and as it was 
raining, ordered a carriage. When we des- 
cended, our grand carriage, covered now, 
and the liveried driver, were waiting. It 
was nearly midnight when we came out from 
the play, and the rain having ceased, and 
the stars shining brightly, we decided to 
walk home, as we had not ordered our car- 
riage to wait. Hardly had we gone two 
squares, however, when it drove up, and 
our driver jumped from his box to open 
the door for us. So we learned that half a 
day in Lyons lasts from twelve at noon 



Chapter I. — Lyons. 13 

until twelve at night, and that he who pays 
fifteen francs for a carriage gets the worth 
of his money. 

Early the next morning, before the day- 
light had appeared, but not before the mar- 
ket women had afsembled and were arrang- 
ing their vendibles, we rose, and having 
breakfasted, started for Avignon. A ride 
of five and a-half hours in the cars, along 
the right bank of the Rhone, took us 
thither. By the road runs the rapid river, 
through a valley cultivated to its utmost 
extent and capacity, beyond which stand the 
sentinel mountains, dotted here and there 
with villages that shine white in the sun- 
light, and crowned at intervals with castles 
and chateaux, many of which have long 
since crumbled into ruins. 



Chapter II. — Avignon. 




RRIVED at Avignon, we entered 
an omnibus and drove to the Hotel 
"=^^^^^ de r Europe^ where we found very 
comfortable, large rooms, a capital table, 
attendance and bed. The bread and coffee 
were excellent, the butter delicious, and the 
lamb chops fairly melted in the mouth. 

Avignon was the ancient city of the 
Popes, having been conveyed to them by 
Joanna of Naples, in 1348, although occu- 
pied by them, by the invitation of Philip 
the Fair, from 1305, during the term of 
their exile from Rome in the fourteenth 
century, and afterwards by the schismatic 
Popes for about forty years more. It is still 
surrounded by lofty walls flanked with watch- 



Chapter II , — Avignon, 1 5 

towers^ and surmounted with battlements, 
except on the side of the river, where the ab- 
rupt cliffs render defense unnecefsary. The 
streets are paved with small boulders, — (pet- 
rified kidneys as some one called them) — on 
which one must needs do penance in walk- 
ing, for there are no side-walks — and are 
lined with low, heavy, whitewashed houses. 
The chief attractions are the Palace of 
the Popes, and the Cathedral adjoining. 
The former is now used as soldiers' barracks, 
but the larger portion has been presented 
by the Emperor to the Archbishop of that 
diocese, to be delivered as soon as new 
barracks, now in procefs of erection, shall 
be completed. ^^ It partakes of the mixed 
character of a feudal castle and a convent. 
Its walls are one hundred feet high, and 
some of its towers one hundred and fifty 
feet, with a proportionate thicknefs of 
masonry. It is an edifice rich in afsocia- 
tions. It was founded by Clenient V, in 
1309, and during the greater part of the 
fourteenth century it was the seat of the 
Papal Court. In those halls, now echoing 



1 6 Southern France and Spain, 

to the blasphemous oaths of prisoners, or 
subdivided and filled with soldiers' cribs 
and accoutrements, the conclave of cardinals 
sate, by whom the Pope was elected. Here 
Petrarch was a guest, Giotto and his schol- 
ars adorned its walls, and in its dungeon 
Rienzi was a prisoner/' 

Here, too, was the chamber of torture for 
the victims of the Inquisition, and later, in 
the short life of the French Revolution, 
deeds of blood were done, from the perusal 
of v/hich we turn awav in horror. 

In the Cathedral we saw a chapel of the 
time of Charlemagne, a tomb of Pope John 
XXII, whereof the statue, as well as the 
bones of the Pope, was broken and scattered 
by the fierce revolutionists, and a statue of 
the Virgin, by Pradier, very graceful and 
beautiful. Here also, as in several other 
churches that we visited, is a representation 
in figures of the birth of Christ. The in- 
fant lies in the cradle, with Joseph and 
Mary on either side, while at its head stand 
an ox and an afs, gravely looking down ; 
two or three other figures are added, gener- 



Chapter II , — Avignon. 17 

ally of the kings of the east bringing pres- 
ents, among whom is always a negro, with 
robe and turban surmounted by a feather. 

From the Cathedral, which forms the 
easternmost portion of the palace, a walk 
leads into gardens, from which a magnificent 
view of the fortrefs of Villeneuve, opposite, 
and of the surrounding country may be ob- 
tained. At your feet runs the swift river ; 
beyond it are the villages and the fortres, 
and still beyond rise the mountains — one 
covered with perpetual snow — which com- 
mence the chain of the Pyrenees. On the 
other side are Avignon and the plains be- 
yond, dotted with white stone and mortar 
houses, and strange looking tiled roofs, 
surrounded by gardens and shaded by trees. 

Dismifsing our old conimifsionaire^ we 

wandered through the narrow, crooked 

streets. On the hills were olive trees, and 

in the town were wine shops, with a bush 

hanging over the door, reminding us of 

Shakspeare's ^' Good wine needs no bush/' 

Where white wine is sold, white paper or 

rags are tied to the bush. 

c 



1 8 Southern France and Spain. 

The mistral^ a strong wind which blows 
at intervals during the whole year, was pre- 
vailing while we were there, but whereas, in 
summer it is pregnant with discomfort and 
disease, it was then merely cold, while the 
sky was without a cloud. 

Near the Cathedral is an open square 
unenclosed, and smoothly graveled, where, 
at times, the military band plays, and the 
people gather for promenade and chat. On 
one side are cafes and shops, and on the 
other a theatre, with two fine statues flank- 
ing its entrance, — one of Moliere and the 
other of Corneille, — a music hall, formerly 
the mint of the popes, and between the 
two the Hotel de Ville^ a large building sur- 
mounted by a clock-tower, in which stand 
life-size figures of a man and woman, with 
hammers in their hands, with which they 
strike the hours. 

The Museum contains many relics of the 
Roman period, and the tomb of Petrarch's 
Laura, — a crofs, upon which hangs a wreath 
of flowers, standing on a globe. In the 
building is a gallery of modern paintings, 



Chapter IL — Avignon. 19 

chiefly by artists born at Avignon, but by 
no means confined to that city. There are 
three portraits by Grimou, in style resem- 
bling the beautiful paintings of Greuze, 
which no frequenter of the galleries of the 
Louvre can forget; an exquisite moonlight 
scene by Vander Neer ; Mazeppa pursued 
by wolves, by Horace Vernet — a most re- 
markable picture ; also paintings by Claude 
Joseph and Charles Vernet, some of which 
are very spirited. Best of all, however, are 
two by French artists, little known in our 
country, — Evariste Bernardi de Valernes, 
and Eugene le Poittevin. By the former 
there is a Sister of Charity in her conven- 
tional drefs, in the face of whom are re- 
flected all the virtues that the poor and 
needy, and the sick and suffering soldiers 
of our civil war have learned to asfociate 
with any member of that order. The latter 
has .Cinderella, sitting in the chimney cor- 
ner gazing into the fire, seeing in the coals 
and flames shifting pictures of the bright 
and beautiful world that young girls all 
long to enter, but saddened with the 



20 Southern France and Spain. 

thought that she never could realize her 
dreams. There is a mezzotint of this at 
GoupiTs, in New York, which, though a 
beautiful picture, conveys but a faint idea 
of the exquisite original. 




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Chapter Ill.—Nismes—Pont du Gard. 



^WlWWO hours in the cars bring us 
"4'^& to Nismes, a beautiful city with 
"^h r" wide streets, shady boulevards, su= 
perb Roman remains, comfortable looking 
houses, and last, though not least in the 
estimation of a traveler, an excellent hoteL 
The first visit, of course, was to the 
Amphitheatre- — built, as were the other Ro- 
man remains, in the days when the town 
was called Nemausus^ and was an unimport- 
ant city of Gaul. It is of stone, 437 i^^t 
long, 332 feet wide at the centre, being oval 
in form, and 70 feet high — of two stories. 
There were thirty-two rows of seats, 
which would accommodate about 20,000 
people. Back of the seats are corridors. 



^ -^ 



Southern France and Spain, 

surrounding the whole building, roofed 
with huge stones ; while the facilities for 
ingrefs and egrefs would be well worth the 
studv of architects of our easily burned 
opera houses. It is more perfect, out- 
wardly, than that of Verona, and altogether 
more so than the Colisseum ; and work- 
men are busily engaged in restoring the 
portions that have been destroyed. 

It was a beautiful morning in February, 
and the sun was warm enough to tempt us 
to sit tor an hour on the seats, and conjure 
up the past, when the Roman citizens sat 
there, patrician and plebian, feasting their 
eyes upon the deadly struggle of the gladi- 
ators, applauding the victor when the cry of 
'^ hahet'' rang in the air. 

Not far from the Amphitheatre is the 
Maison Carree^ a most perfect and beau- 
tiful Corinthian building, which, originally 
a Roman temple, has pafsed through 
varied changes — as a Christian church, a 
city-hall, a stable, a burial house for a con- 
vent, — and has finally become a museum. 
In it are various antiquities ; a horrible 



Chapter III, — Nis?nes^Pont du Card. 23 

picture by Sigalon, but one of great power^ 
representing Nero experimenting vipon a 
slave with the poison destined for his 
brother Britannicus ; and a celebrated and 
much more interesting painting, by Paul 
Delaroche, of Cromwell holding open the 
coffin-lid of Charles I, and gazing on the 
features of the dead king. By Guido, is a 
Jvidith, at the moment when, attired in her 
richest robes, she is told that it is time to 
go to Holofernes. Her face is very beauti- 
ful, and her dreamy eyes and smooth brow 
would seem to sho¥/ that she was thinking 
more of the coming conquest of her beauty, 
and of the consequent triumph among her 
people, than of the dreadful deed she was on 
the eve of undertaking. 

The other most noticeable thing in the 
Museum is a statue of The Dancing Girl, 
by Pradier. In one hand she holds a harp ; 
the other is raised ; her head, and the upper 
portion of her body are thrown back, the 
m.outh halt open, as if singing; one foot 
slightly advanced ; the other leg and foot 
covered with the mantle which has just fallen 



24 Southern France and Spain, 

from her shoulders, leaving the form nude. 
Her figure is lithe, beautifully rounded, 
perfectly formed and in graceful pose, mak- 
ing altogether one of the most exquisite 
statues I saw in Europe. 

In the public square, close by, is another 
work of Pradier — a marble fountain; on 
each of the four sides of which is a figure, 
representing four rivers, presiding over 
the four streams of crystal water that issue 
from the marble. This is surmounted by 
a lofty and commanding female statue 
wearing a crown, representing on one side 
the Maison Carree^ and on the other the 
Amphitheatre. It is a striking work, and 
especially eflfective by moonlight. 

Back of the town rises a hill of consider- 
able height, on which stands a hollow, coni- 
cal shaped structure, much battered by 
time, called La Tour Magne^ supposed to 
have been a Roman tomb. We climbed the 
circular staircase, in its interior, to the 
summit, and were rewarded with a magnifi- 
cent and extended prospect, including the 
Pyrenees, the fertile valley, the city, with 



Chapter III, — Nismes^ Pont du Card, 25 

its ancient buildings prominent, and its 
gardens and long rows of trees ; while afar 
to the left the white, dim, cloudy looking 
shapes above the horizon are, the old guide 
says, the snow-clad Alps, and the glimmer- 
ing light on the southern horizon is that of 
the sea. When we had descended, and 
bought of the old grey-moustached keeper 
a few photographs, raising his hat most 
courteously, he offered my wife her choice 
of card-photographs as a present ''^ si votre 
maripermittro.y She chose one of the tower, 
and we parted in high good humor. 

At the foot of the hill a copious fountain 
bursts from its side, which flows into a 
large reservoir of cut stone, with a fountain 
in the centre. These are supposed to have 
been used by the Romans as baths for wo- 
men. By the side of the baths is a ruined 
temple of Diana, and beyond stretch gar- 
dens which are the pride of this most inter- 
esting city. 

On the hill-side we saw a soldier and a 
peasant girl enjoying a lunch, with the in- 
evitable bottle of red wine, and wondered if 

D 



26 Southern France and Spain, 



''the old, old story was told again '' there, 
as it has been at so many other times and 
places since Adam and Eve talked in the 
garden. 

In the entrance to the gardens was a 
bridal party of young peasants, the bride all 
in white, with veil and orange blofsom 
wreath, and the bridegroom in traditional 
black suit and white cravat. It is some- 
times comforting to think that Adam, with 
all his troubles, was saved the necefsity of 
black drefs and white cravat when he was 
married. Further on was a procefsion of 
young priests, still in the shell, but with 
big hats, long gowns, white cravats and low 
shoes, as if they were already full fledged ; 
and still further down the street were 
Punch and Judy, scolding and cracking 
crowns, and amusing the crowd with En- 
glish vigor and French vivacity. We sat 
down for half an hour, on a bench under 
the trees, to watch the crowd, ostensibly, 
but I fear that Mr. Punch came in for half 
the watching. 

It rained heavily when we arose one 



Chapter III. — Nismes^ Pont du Gar d, 27 

morning in Nismes, insomuch that we de- 
cided to forego the pleasure of a visit to the 
Pont du Gard^ a remnant of an ancient 
Roman aqueduct, about fifteen miles dis- 
tant ; but after breakfast the clouds broke 
away, the sun came forth warm as in April, 
so the trunks were unstrapped again and a 
carriage ordered. 

So in an open carriage, through fields of 
olive trees covered with their rich green 
leaves, past almond trees clothed in white 
robes of blofsom, past old-looking tile- 
roofed houses, against the walls of which 
were trained rose-bushes, already heavy with 
flowers, past stone crofses and ruined 
chateaux, with a good road beneath, and a 
sky as blue as ever summer showed above, 
with horses which trotted fast under the 
combined incentives of jingling bells, and 
the incefsant cracking of the driver's whip, 
now and then rolling through a sleepy old 
village, furnishing thereby much excite- 
ment to the inhabitants, who all came out 
to stare at us, we drove to the promised 
ruins. And well were we repaid. A tier 



2 8 Southern France and Spain. 

of six mafsive arches^ spanning a deep ra- 
vine^ at the bottom of which runs a shallow 
stream, and supporting a w4de bridge and a 
second tier of eleven arches, smaller than 
the first, but still grand in size ; which in 
turn supports a third tier of thirty-five still 
smaller arches ; which last are surmounted 
by the aqueduct — so wide that two people 
can easily walk abreast in it, and nearly 
five feet in depth! Imagine all this — built 
of mafsive stone, of plain and severe archi- 
tecture, in a wild, though beautiful country, 
with scarcely a human habitation in sight — 
1 80 feet high and 870 in length, built 1600 
years ago; a portion of an aqueduct which 
brought water twenty-five miles to Nismes, 
— and you may have some idea of its o-ran- 
deur, and of the magnificence of the people 
for whom it was built. 

The day was one of uninterrupted pleas- 
ure — the ride, the sight, the lunch at the 
way-side inn, of bread and cheese and spark- 
ling sour wine — and as we were approach- 
ing the city on our return, the setting 
sun touched the clouds with his master- 
hand, and gave us a glorious picture. 



Chapter IV. 
T'oidouse — Bordeaux — Pan — Ba\onne. 




ROM Nismes by rail to Toulouse, 
/ ji^; jg j^Q^ ^ long ride ; and as we hur- 
ried along, our thoughts fled away 
into the past, and we mingled with the 
gay crowd and listened to the song of the 
troubadour. But the glory that gilded the 
city in those days has become rusty and 
dim : and a city not handsome or attractive 
in itself, with a hotel about every nook 
and cranny of which hung an odor which 
was neither of sanctity nor roses, soon 
drove fair ladies, and gallant knights, and 
troubadours, and all, from our minds, which 
were straightway filled with plans for get- 
ting away, that were soon formed and put 
into operation. ; 



JO Southern France and Spain. 

As we entered the car, en route for Bor- 
deaux, there were four gentlemen, evident- 
ly of one party, who sat each at a window, 
leaving the four seats in the middle of the 
compartment vacant. After a few minutes 
one of the gentlemen rose and offered my 
wife his place. She declined taking it. 
Another rose and begged her to take his, 
and then the third and fourth followed. 
Finally one of them changed his seat and 
would not be satisfied until she took the 
place he had left. This last was a very 
intelligent and pleasant gentleman, and we 
kept up a long conversation. By the 
way, nothing strikes an American traveler 
more than the custom in France, and partic- 
ularly in Spain, of each man, on entering or 
leaving a car, raising his hat and bowing 
politely to his fellow travelers, and im- 
mediately offering to converse with his 
neighbor. 

We went through the valley of the Gar- 
onne, one of the most beautiful in France, 
fully one half of which, however, was under 
water, caused by rains, said to have been 



Chapter IV, — Toulouse to Bayonne. 31 

heavier than at any time for one hund- 
red years. 

It is remarkably fertile, and, as is common 
in France, the land is nearly all owned by 
peasants, who buy strips often to fifty feet 
in width, and from one to three hundred feet 
in depth. As soon as a peasant collects a 
few hundred francs he buys a little strip of 
ground with it, and raises a few vegetables 
and vines, some owning but a single furrow. 

Bordeaux is a truly lordly city, with its 
broad stone quays, — said to be the finest in 
the world — beautiful gardens, lofty build- 
ings, and its Cathedral, through the exquis- 
itely painted windows of which streams the 
varied colored light. 

The gardens are large and tastefully laid 
out, with a stream running through them 
almost literally filled with gold fish, and 
adorned with numerous fountains, groves 
of various trees, and parterres of brilliant 
flowers ; and on Sunday afternoon one may 
see hundreds of people walking about the 
avenues, listening to the music of the band, 
watching the swans or the gold fish, or the 



3 2 Southern France and Spain. 

large number of children who in a broad 
open graveled space are busy with their 
games. 

There is an Art Museum, but its treas- 
ures are few, — a couple of Grimoux, a beau- 
tiful Achenbach, a Claude, and a remarkable 
painting, by Cogniet, of Tintoret painting 
the portrait of his dead daughter, comprise 
the best of the collection. There are many 
others, which they told us were Titian's, 
Rubens', Rembrandt's, Van Dyke's, and 
the like, but we took the liberty of dis- 
believing what they told us, out of respect 
to those great names. 

We had a capital hotel near the quay, — 
the Hotel de Nantes — about which will ever 
linger for me the delicious perfume of La 
Tour Blanche and Chateau Margaux. 

I was struck with the difference between 
the hours of businefs here and those preva- 
lent in England and our own country. 
Calling on my banker, who had one of the 
largest houses in the city, about one in the 
afternoon, I was told no one was in, but I 
could call at three and find the partners. 



Chapter IV, — T'oulouse to Bayonne, 23 

Subsequently I inquired their office hours, 
'' From nine to twelve" was the reply, and 
'^from half-past past two till six/' ^' But 
why this closing for two hours in the mid- 
dle of the day ? " '^ Ah, monsieur, we go 
to take our breakfast ! " 

Leaving Bordeaux, we proceeded south- 
ward to Bayonne, stopping en route at Pau, 
for two or three days, to see some friends 
from home. Hitherto we had been pre- 
sided over by a special genius of the 
weather, for we took clear skies with us 
wherever we went, and were becoming some- 
thing of fatalists in our belief in our good 
luck, but at Pau the presiding genius of 
the place triumphed over ours, and the 
rain was almost incefsant during our stay. 
In spite of that, however, we drove along 
the banks of the beautiful Gave^ and among 
the hills, which gave promise of great beauty 
when the leaves should clothe the trees, and 
the sun should shine again, lamenting only 
those lines of stunted and deformed trees 
of which the beauty and grace had fallen 
victims to the necefsity for faggots. 



34 Southern France and Spain, 

It was a pleasure which only those can 
realize who for several months have not 
seen one familiar face, to meet and mingle 
with friends, and discufs home news and 
home scenes, but on the third day, having 
had a glimpse of the fine scenery afforded 
by a few hours of sunshine, and wandered 
through the castle of Henry IV, the great 
hero of those parts, and thought of Berna- 
dotte, who went from thence a drummer- 
boy and died King of Sweden, we proceeded 
to Bayonne, a lively town, but of little 
interest to us, save for its fortifications, a 
curious old cathedral, and an exquisite 
church of modern architecture, which at 
the time of our visit was all drefsed with 
flowers for some festival. 

Here we found a courier named Mariano, 
a Spanish merchant formerly, and well to 
do, but now poor, and making his bread 
and butter by acting sometimes as courier, 
and at others as an employe of the British 
Consul at Bayonne. Honest and truthful 
as a gentleman, economical to a fault, and 
simple as a child, pofsefsed of the French, 



Chapter IV, — Toulouse to Bayonne, 35 

Spanish and English languages, attentive 
and active, he was a gem — nay, a very Koh- 
i-noor of a courier. But the poor fellow 
had once had a sun-stroke, which affected 
his brain in some degree, and at Madrid 
the rarity of the air and the excitement of 
the city ajffected him so that I was com- 
pelled, though reluctantly, to send him 
back to Bayonne. I afterwards engaged 
Manuel Bazan, who is recommended by 
Fetridge, in Harper's Handbook of Trav- 
el, in whose recommendation, after two 
months' trial, I most heartily concur. 

The road from Bordeaux to Bayonne 
runs nearly the whole distance through a 
flat, sandy pine barren, called JLes Grandes 
Landes, Scarcely any houses are to be 
seen, excepting in the few villages on the 
route, but everywhere the pine and fir trees, 
with patches of grafs here and there, which 
serve as sheep pastures. The shepherds 
of this region, instead of the traditional 
pipe and crook, have a pair of lofty stilts, 
and a long stafi^ with a piece nailed across 
the top. These stilts answer the double 



3 6 Southern France and Spain, 

purpose of keeping them out of the sand, 
and as posts of observation, while the staff 
is for sitting on without dismounting. The 
traveler, as he speeds along, will generally 
see two or three of these strange looking 
tripods together, conversing and knitting. 

The region is said to have been com- 
paratively bare at a former period, but 
proving an excellent place for the cultiva- 
tion of evergreens, they have been planted 
in great numbers. It is also said that the 
Emperor is largely interested in this sec- 
tion, and when North Carolina seceded and 
the products of her pine forests rose so 
rapidly in value, the Imperial speculator 
realized a handsome profit from his ven- 
ture. 





Chapter V. — Irmi — Burgos. 











T noon we left Bayonne, by rail, for 
Burgos, expecting to reach that 
^ place at midnight. But human 
plans ^' gang aft aglee/' And so did ours 
on this occasion, Bradshaw to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

At Irun, the first Spanish station, we 
changed cars, and sat patiently for an hour, 
waiting until the gentry in blue and red 
uniforms, and light straw-colored caps, 
black moustaches, cigarettes, and dirty fin- 
gers, had finished searching our baggage. 
The trunks were verv small, and perhaps 
therefore the more suspicious, or perhaps 
the hour before the train would leave was 
to be filled up some how or other, and this 



\ 



3 8 Southern France and Spain. 

presented a tempting method of so doing; 
but whatever the reason^ most certain it is 
that our trunks were most thoroughly 
searched that day. 

Clothes were carefully shaken, parcels of 

gloves unwrapped, brushes examined, and 

nothing contraband discovered, until a box 

^ was found which seemingly presented no 

^ means of opening it. The officer turned it 

about and around, looked at its top and bot- 

1^- ^ ^ ^om, shook it, and at last unable to compre- 

^ \ hend the secret, handed it to our courier and 

^^^^ asked what it was. He did not know, and 

Y ' asked us. I would not tell. How to get 

it open, and its contents, the officer must 

discover for himself. His temper did not 

seem to be improved by this, but he was 

amusing us, and I had no idea of losing the 

amusement. So he pulled, and worked, 

and shook, and at last seized with a brilliant 

idea unscrewed the top, and found inside a 

bottle. He opened the bottle and smelt 

of its contents, but did not recognise the 

perfume. He asked Mariano what it was. 

Mariano did not know, and I refused to 



Chapter V.-^Irun — Burgos, 39 

tell. Up went the bottle to his nose again, 
but gaining no information by that means, 
he tasted it. Having done so he spat on 
the ground with disgust, and looking very 
savagely at us, who were much amused, 
put in the stopper, screwed up the cover, 
and put it back. The bottle contained 
hair wash I 

Soon after he brought forth a small long 
newspaper parcel, containing two round 
barrels. Here was something wrong. Now 
he could bring los Americanos to grief, and 
eagerly untwisted the ends of the paper, 
unrolled it and discovered — -two candles, 
which, in a fit of disgust at the Toulouse 
hotel bill, we had carried off and forgotten 
all about. 

His official sternnefs melted into sur- 
prise, and as his eyebrows rose, Mariano's 
mouth expanded, and we burst into a 
hearty laugh. 

At last we were off again, but in the 
afternoon were detained a couple of hours 
at a way-station, waiting for a train, and 
finally about one in the morning, we were 



40 Southern France and Spain, 

aroused from sleep by cries and the glare of 
torches. Whether the cars were on fire or 
robbers had attacked the train, or Burgos 
was reached, we could not tell, but in a 
nioment came the pleasing intelligence that 
a tunnel had fallen in and we must walk 
over the mountain. 

There was no help for it ! so we set 
forth. Up, up, up we went, until the 
climbing had nearly taken away our breath, 
while still above us, and far below, flared 
the great torches and sounded the cries of 
the Spanish guides who lighted our path 
and carried the baggage on their shoulders. 

Up still until we reached the summit, 
where the cold wintry wind blew strongly 
and bit shrewdly. Far down below lay the 
train we had left ; all up the side of the 
mountain the torches flared in the wind ; 
by our side stood a guide, with ragged 
brown pantaloons, leather leggins, slouched 
hat, and a cloak like unto Joseph's, for 
variety of color, and to the famous boots 
of Peter the Great for composition, while 
away down in the valley below shone the 



Chapter V, — Irun — Burgos 41 

lamp of the engine of the train that was to 
carry us on. 

Not a shrub, nor a tree, was to be seen 
as far as the moonlight allowed the eye to 
reach ; and as the torches lit up the motley 
line of traA/elers, and guides, and porters, 
and glistened on the arms of the guards 
who walked at the side of the procefsion, 
muffled in their cloaks, with their black 
eyes peering from under their cocked hats, 
I thought I hadjiev^r., beheld^ a sceiie^sg^. 
wild and picturesque.^^ 

But it was too cold to stand there long, 
and therefore down the other side of the 
mountain, by a zig-zag path so steep that 
for half the distance we descended by steps 
cut in the earth, to the new train, which in 
an hour more took us to Burgos. 

This ancient city, once the proud capital 
of proud Castile, renowned by the deeds of 
the Count Fernan Gonzales, and the Cid 
so famed in story and in song, losing 
somewhat of its greitnefs by the removal 
of the Court to Toledo, in the eleventh 
century, is now a dull, quiet, sleepy town. 



42 Southern France and Spain. 

with narrow crooked streets, containing 
about 25,000 inhabitants, and is interest- 
ing to the traveler chiefly on account of 
its Cathedral. 

This Gothic structure, about three hund- 
red feet in length, by an average breadth of 
ninety-three feet, rich in carving and orna- 
ment, is unfortunately situated on uneven 
ground, and much obscured by surround- 
ing buildings. In the interior it is divided 
into three naves, separated by rows of pil- 
lars. The efl^ect of the length, however, as 
in all the Spanish Cathedrals, is greatly in- 
jured by the situation of the high altar and 
choir, which are placed in the center of the 
church, instead of at one end as with us. 
It is built of very light colored stone and 
appears within as if it were of compara- 
tively recent erection, although it has been 
standing about six hundred years. There 
are neither chairs nor pews in any of the 
Cathedrals in Spain, but all the worshippers 
kneel on the stone floor, the women gener- 
ally afsuming a squatting position when 
not actually engaged in prayer. They are 



Chapter V, — Irun — Burgos, 43 

most democratic institutions ; the ragged 
beggar boy, that Murillo delighted to paint, 
may be seen kneeling by the side of the 
lady whose rich black drefs and fine lace 
mantilla give evidence of pofsefsion of 
wealth, and the workman and the titled 
are on an equality there. 

When the French blew up the castle in 
1 8 13, the Cathedral was not injured, con- 
trary to general expectation, but the beau- 
tifully painted glafs windows were all 
destroyed. 

The towers, which are three hundred feet 
high, are triumphs of art — so light one 
wonders they are not blown away in that 
stormy region ; and so open one can see 
the stars through them at night. Viewed 
from a distance they are exceedingly beau- 
tiful. 

There is, of course, much to admire in a 
building almost encrusted with statues and 
carving, but one of the most interesting 
objects is the carved wood forming the seats 
of the choir. This is wrought into all 
manner of strange shapes, while there are 



44 Southern France and Spain, 

two tiers of bas-reliefs, representing scenes 
from the Old and New Testament, all ex- 
quisitely finished, while in the centre is an 
inlaid seat, representing, strangely enough, 
the rape of Europa ! 

The chest of the Cid is shown by the 
sacristan, — an old wooden iron-bound box, 
in which the brave Rodrigo kept his treas- 
ures. But once when he was going on 
an expedition, his exchequer was very low, 
so he sent for two wealthy Jews to dine 
with him, and warming them with wine, 
proposed to borrow of them the sum re- 
quired, depositing in their keeping his 
chest, which he afsured them was filled with 
plate, and gold, and jewels. The box was 
very heavy, and the Cid's word was sup- 
posed to be very good, so the Jews lent 
him the money, without opening the box. 
Afterward, the Cid being succefsful in his 
expedition and acquiring much spoil, re- 
turned this money, and apologized for the 
fact that the box contained only sand. 

For this he is lauded by the Spanish 
chroniclers ; for the reason I suppose that 



Chapter V, — Irun — Burgos. 45 

he was honest enough to pay what he had 
dishonestly borrowed, a thing perhaps of 
infrequent occurrence in Spain. 

Around a clock in the corner may gener- 
ally be found a small collection of people, 
waiting for the striking of the hour, when 
an Apostle steps forth, and after striking 
the four quarters on a little bell, retires, 
closing the doors after him, upon which 
a grotesque figure strikes the hour on a 
large bell, opening his mouth from ear to 
ear at each stroke. 

In one of the chapels we saw the Christ 
of Burgos, — a most admirable work of art, 
— carved, as the legend runs, by Nicode- 
mus, out of supernatural wood, so that 
none can say what it is, and found by a 
merchant of Burgos in the Bay of Biscay, 
whither it had come of its own accord from 
the East ; and pofsefsed of the power of 
working miracles. The effect, however, is 
much injured by one of the stiff silk petti- 
coats, embroidered with gold, with which 
the Spaniards generally drape the figure. 

Not far from the city is a hill, on the 



46 Southern France and Spain, 

brow of which stands the citadel. We 
climbed up to it in the morning, and 
finding no officer of whom to ask leave, 
walked in, and acrofs to the ramparts, whence 
we had a fine view of the surrounding 
country and the city at our feet, with the 
lofty towers of the Cathedral overtopping 
all. After we had been there about half 
an hour, the commandant sent word that 
as we had entered without asking permif- 
sion, we must retire immediately, and as 
we had seen all we cared to, we cheerfully 
obeyed ; and taking a carriage drove to the 
convent La Cartuja^ about three miles from 
the city, to see the tombs of Juan II, and 
Isabella of Portugal. 

These wonderful mausoleums are octa- 
gonal in shape, guarded at each corner by 
two lions, that support escutcheons on 
which are carved the royal arms. All the 
sides are covered with delicate carvings of 
figures under filagree canopies, fruit, open- 
worked leaves, birds, animals, and other 
objects, of perfect form and harmony. On 
the tops lie the full length figures of the 



Chapter V, — Irun— Burgos. 47 

king and queen, with life-like features and 
most wonderfully worked robes and laces. 
At the feet of the queen a lion, child, and 
dog are lying. All these are carved in 
alabaster, and defy description. 

Near by, in a recefs in the wall, is the 
statue of Don Alonso, their son, (also of 
life size,) who is represented kneeling on a 
cushion. Over him is a Gothic arch, 
festooned with a grape vine, the whole, 
like the others, presenting numberlefs 
leaves, flowers, and figures of exquisite 
workmanship. This, also, is all of alabas- 
ter. They were placed there towards the 
close of the fifteenth century, by Queen 
Isabella, the sister of the Infanta. 

The sights I have mentioned comprise 
the chief attractions of Burgos ; and 
our hotel, dirty and uncomfortable, the 
weather very cold, with only a brazier of 
charcoal and ashes to warm ourselves with, 
(for there are no fire-places in Spain, except 
in a few new hotels,) induced us to linger 
no longer, but push on to Valladolid, where 
the chances for comfortable housing might 



48 Southern France and Spain, 

be better. We did so, but after a sleep and 
a breakfast we decided not to spend another 
night there, for we had come from the fry- 
ing-pan to the fire. 




Chapter VI. — Valladolid — Escorial. 




ND indeed, one day is sufficient to 
see all thatj/alladolid offers. Situ- 
"^^^ ated on a wide plain, the cold winds 
have free course in winter, and the Span- 
iards who were walking on the Prado when 
we went to see it, must have been taking a 
serious constitutional. 

Philip II, who was born here, did much 
to embellish and adorn it while it still re- 
mained the Capital of Spain, and it was a 
large and flourishing city. After he re- 
moved his Court to Madrid, however, the 
population diminished, and the city has now 
43,000 inhabitants. 

We rambled about the dead old town, 
with its crooked streets and white buildings, 

G 



50 Southern France and Spain. 

old churches, and dirty beggars, crouched in 
the corners where the sun had most power, 
until we came to the Museumx, which, among 
many pictures, statues, and other objects, 
contains few worthy of notice, and fewer 
still to be recollected. The most curious 
of all was a considerable series of pictures, 
representing various scenes in the life of 
Christ, in which all the prominent figures 
are made of mother-of-pearl. The author- 
ship is unknown, but they are said to be of 
great antiquity. 

While walking on the Prado I gave a beg- 
gar a copper. '^ Don't, for God's sake, Mr. 
M.," said our old guide. '^If you give to 
one, they will smell you a mile.'' And in 
truth, they were plentiful enough. One 
ludicrous instance occurred. Two blind 
men sat on one side of the street. On our 
approach a little girl was sent acrofs to beg. 
She, mistaking her instructions, accosted 
two Spaniards in front of us, which the 
blind men seeing^ called out to her to cease 
and turn to us, which she did, with the 
usual ^'^^r amor Dios^ Senor^'' but which only 



Chapter VI, — Valladolid — EscoriaL 51 

provoked laughter on this occasion, and the 
reply, ^'Vaya con DiosJ' which turns away a 
Spanish beggar about as surely as a soft 
answer turneth away wrath. 

From Valladolid we went by rail to the 
village of EscoriaL about twenty miles from 
Madrid, arriving; about five o'clock in the 
morning, and were glad to find a comfort- 
able bed, and a good breakfast afterwards. 

At a short distance is the famous palace 
of the Escorial, the reflex, in stone, of the 
character of its half-monk, half-king, builder, 
PKiTip 11. Built of granite, with long cor- 
ridors of low, flattened arches, of immense 
size, in a rocky, desolate region, it is as 
gloom.y an abode as even its royal owner 
could desire. 

Pafsing through the principal entrance, 
over which are placed colofsal figures of the 
six kings of Judea who are said to have 
afsisted in the building of Solomon's Tem- 
ple — all of granite, with heads and hands of 
white marble — we proceeded directly to the 
Church. This is also granite, of the Doric 
style, and the greatest simplicity, but of in- 



52 Southern France and Spain, 

exprefsible grandeur. It is of large size — 
320 feet long, 230 feet broad, and 320 feet 
to the top of the cupola; but the secret of 
its grandeur is in its perfect proportion and 
severe simplicity. The Cathedrals of Bur- 
gos and Toledo are more rich in carvings 
and more gorgeous in appearance; that of 
Seville is greater in size and adorned with 
world-famous paintings; those of Cologne 
and Milan more beautiful, and St. Peter's 
more vast and better suited for the capital 
where the head of the church may lead in 
worship, and all the gorgeous ceremonies 
of the Catholic Church be performed ; 
but more in this than in any other did 
I feel that sense of awe which he felt of 
old who knelt in the very Holy of 
Holies. If ever there was a temple 
where one must hold his breath and feel 
that '^ God alone is great,'' it surely is 
this. 

Immediately under the altar, which is 
composed of the variously colored marbles, 
is the dome of the tomb, curiously named 
the Pantheon, an octagonal chamber, of 



Chapter VI. — Valladolid — EscoriaL ^i^ 

highly polished marble, on shelves about 
the sides of which are metallic coffins, in- 
closed in porphyry urns, in which rest the 
bodies of the kings and queens of Spain, 
placed there in fulfillment of the vow of 
Philip II, to have high mafs said for their 
souls, over their bodies, every day. 

The palace is exquisitely fitted up with 
inlaid woods, gilding and tapestry, and was 
formerly the repository of many fine paint- 
ings, of which, however, but few are now 
left, the remainder having been transferred 
to the Museum at Madrid. At last, after 
inspecting the Convent, we visited the 
rooms of the king who built all this. A 
small antechamber, or salon, where he re- 
ceived his ambafsadors, a narrow, dark, 
unventilated bed-room, and a small study, 
where are his chair, the support for his 
gouty foot, and his writing materials, all of 
the plainest sort, — all the rooms having 
earthenware floors and walls of blue Dutch 
tiles, — form the apartments he delighted to 
occupy. Close beside them is a narrow 
recefs, from which a small door opens into 



54 Southern France and Spain. 

the church, where died this singular com- 
pound of pride and self-abasement, cool 
ferocity and superstitious piety— who de- 
ceived his friends and confefsed his sins 
daily, and deluged the land in blood for the 
glory of God and the honor of his royal 
line. 

The building was erected both in com- 
pliance with the wish of Charles V, and in 
fulfillment of a vow to St. Laurence, on 
whose day the victory of St. Quentin was 
won, and being a rectangular parallelogram, 
with long corridors and a tower at each 
corner, is thought to have been purposely 
constructed in the form of a reversed grid- 
iron, in honor of the method of martyrdom 
of that saint. 

After spending the whole day in this 
wonderful pile, we returned to the hotel, 
and after dining, again took the cars, arriv- 
ing at Madrid about nine o'clock, when we 
drove to the Grand Hotel de Paris ^ the largest 
and best hotel in the city, situated on the 
Puerta del Sol, 





^S 


^^^^^^^ 


wj^^^ »f^**^friw 


i 


^ 


^^S^ 


F%^P^ 








i^O 



Chapter VI I. — Madrid. 




N inquiring for rooms we were 
shown two on the first floor, (or 
second story in our understanding,) 
which seemed very pleasant, but had no 
fire-place. These were six dollars per day. 
On the floor above, we found two others 
with a fire-place, which were eight dollars a 
day ; but they were on the shady side of 
the house, and consequently very cold, and 
we subsequently changed to two others on 
the floor below^, on the sunny side, for 
which we paid ten dollars per day, — or, as 
I estimated it, six for the rooms, two for 
fire-place, and two for sunshine. These 
prices include dinner, and breakfast of eggs, 
wine and bread. As an Englishman once 



^6 Southern France and Spain, 

said to me, '^ He who wishes coffee, cham- 
pagne and such luxuries must expect to pay 
for them," as well as for fire, lights, service, 
and other extras. 

But it was a very comfortable house, and 
for the first time since leaving Bayonne 
we luxuriated in an open fire-place with a 
blazing fire in it, and soon lost the colds 
contracted on the way thither. 

Every one has read of Madrid, — its 
Puerta del Sol^ the lounging place of all 
clafses of people, — its Prado, lined with 
trees, with carriage road and broad side- 
walks, where, on pleasant afternoons, the 
Madrilenians may be seen walking or driv- 
ing ; the palace, a vast stone structure of 
fine architectural effect ; its museums and 
its galleries of paintings; and I shall rather 
endeavor to give an idea of our life there, 
and the strange and beautiful sights we saw, 
than of the appearance of the city itself. 

Of course our first walk on the morning 
after our arrival, (after a visit to my 
banker's for letters,) was to the Gallery of 
Paintings, whither we resorted almost daily 



Chapter VII , — Madrid. 57 

during our stay, and always with increasing 
pleasure. 

This collection, begun by Charles V and 
Philip II5 the friends and patrons of 
Rubens, Titian and Velasquez, and after- 
wards largely increased by Philip IV and 
Philip V, is one of the most attractive, 
as it is said to be one of the finest galleries 
in the world, in which opinion, after seeing 
those of Rome, Florence and Dresden, I 
concur. From the Netherlands, from Italy, 
and from France, they drew their treasures, 
and when the Commonwealth of England 
sold the Van Dykes and other gems of 
the collection of Charles I, Spain was a 
large purchaser, and in that dry, conserv- 
ative climate, time deals gently with works 
of art. 

Besides the Raphaels, Rubens, Titians, 
Tintorettos, Paul Veroneses, Claudes, Van 
Dykes, — all of whom are represented by 
some of their best works, and large num- 
bers of Teniers, Wouvermans, Both, and 
many other well known artists, — is a larger 
collection of Spanish masters than is to be 



H 



58 Southern France and Spain, 

found in any other place in the world. 
Zurbaran, Ribera, Valasquez, and Murillo, 
can be studied to more advantage here than 
in any other place. Indeed, nearly all of 
the works of Velasquez are to be found here, 
and more of Murillo's best than elsewhere, 
excepting at Seville. 

It would need a better art critic than 
myself, to comment on the riches that 
cover the walls, so as to describe without 
wearying the reader. One has literally emhar- 
ras de richesse. But the " Pearl " of Raphael ; 
a ^'Conception'' by Murillo — who, if ever 
painter drank of the cup of inspiration, 
had quaffed largely ere he so painted 
purity and innocence itself, enshrined in 
beauty — the child Christ giving his play- 
mate, St. John, to drink from a shell, by 
the side of the stream ; the Magdalen, 
weary with watching, and worn with grief; 
Rebecca at the well; and others by the same 
master; Titian's Charles V, on horseback; 
Valasquez' wonderful portraits of the royal 
family of Spain ; Tintoretto's Shipwreck, 
from out which looks a woman's face of 



Chapter VII. — Madrid, 59 

remarkable beauty ; and four exquisite 
Claudes, would of themselves well repay the 
lover of art for a journey to Madrid. 

We visited, one morning, the Royal 
Armory, where we saw the armor of Charles 
V, Philip II, Isabella I, — as well as those 
of other celebrated characters, — but most 
interesting of all, to us, that of Cortez and 
Christopher Columbus, in which we be- 
lieved firmly, caring naught for historic 
doubts suggested by sceptical guide-books. 
Here, also, we saw the swords of Ferdinand 
and Isabella ; of Don John, hero of Le- 
panto ; of Pizarro, conqueror of Peru ; of 
Cortes, and of the unfortunate Boabdil, 
last Moorish sovereign of Grenada. 

The Palace we could not enter, as the 
royal family were residing there during the 
period of our stay. We often saw the 
Queen, — a fat, sensual looking woman, 
whose appearance by no means contradicts 
the general report of her character, — in an 
open carriage, accompanied by the King, 
her husband, who has rather an intellectual 
face, and was constantly bowing to those 



6o Southern France and Spain, 

upon the sidewalks, who raised their hats 
as they pafsed. The carriage was drawn by 
eight or ten horses, preceded by a company 
of mounted guards, with brafs helmets and 
flowing horse-hair plumes, and followed by 
another carriage containing the children. 
The young Prince and heir to the throne is 
a very dark, black eyed, active boy, of intel- 
ligent countenance, and seemingly remark- 
able only on account of his position, and 
for being the son of such a mother. 

The royal stables are large and interest- 
ing. Some three hundred horses, including 
several American brood mares, Eno:lish, 
Arabian, and Spanish horses, and about 
two hundred mules, are kept there, and 
adjoining is the carriage house, where are 
the magnificent but heavy, lumbering state 
coaches. 

We frequently visited the theatres, and 
one evening saw a spectacle called 1864 and 
1865. The former, as an old man with 
long white beard and hair, shows the latter, 
— a man ludicrously arrayed as a child, 
who is taken out of a cradle — the various 



Chapter VII , — Madrid, 6i 

matters and things which it is necefsary for 
him to encounter during his life. The 
steam-engine pafses^ and the telegraph and 
the printing prefs, and other motive powers 
of the world. Then appears a man bear- 
ing a banner, half of which is torn off, 
labeled '' Spanish credit.'' Next is seen 
the front of the existing Academy of Art, 
<-/ — -Murillo and Valasquez pafsing by, sud- 
denly stop, read the sign, raise their hands 
in horror, and rush from the stage. Various 
other tableaux succeed, and finally appears 
a statue of I.iberty, draped in mourning. 
People of different clafses pafs by, when 
the statue glides away, and in a moment 
there rushes on the stage a genuine street 
mob, composed of people from all ranks 
of life, the gentleman, artisan, and beggar, 
armed with all manner of weapons, led by 
a small man in his shirt-sleeves, waving a 
sword, and all shouting Libertad^ Libertad^ 
while the orchestra plays the Marseillaise. 

The excitement of the audience was in- 
tense. Handkerchiefs waved, hats were 
thrown into the air, vivas were shouted. 



62 Southern France and Spain, 

and three times the scene was repeated with 
equal enthusiasm. 

Upon inquiry why such demonstrations 
were not stopped by the government, I 
was informed that at first the government 
affected to laugh at it, but afterward a num- 
ber of other theatres took up the play, and 
the excitement was so general and great that 
it was feared the threatened revolt would be 
hastened by endeavor to put down the rep- 
resentations. Great difsatisfaction certainly 
exists, and it is evident that the time must 
come when the present government must 
accept liberal ideas, or be overwhelmed by 
the march of humanity. 

I was amused one day by the title of one 
of the plays — Pan y Toros — ''bread and 
bulls,'' — which seem to be the necefsities 
of Spanish life at present, as were Panis et 
Cir censes^ — '' bread and games '' — to the *" 
Romans, or ''bread and circuses" to 
young America. 

We attended a bull-fight during the Car- 
nival season at Madrid, at which, although 
it was not a regular bull-fight, there were 



Chapter VIL — Madrid. 6^ 

five bulls and seven horses killed, but 
unfortunately, in the estimation of the 
Spaniards, no man. It is certainly an ex- 
citing scene, but exceedingly barbarous and 
cruel. One horse, after being gored on 
each side so that his entrails dragged on the 
ground, was still ridden around the ring to 
seek a fresh encounter. This, however, 
became too much even for the Spaniards, 
and he was ordered out of the ring by the 
Alcalde, or governor of the city, who al- 
ways presides on such occasions. The 
horses employed are veritable '' crow-baits,'' 
and so long as they are in the ring your 
sympathies are all with them ; but after 
they leave they are entirely with the bull, 
and I could not help agreeing with an En- 
glish gentleman who accompanied us, who 
'^wished the bull would catch that rascal in 
yellow.'' 

The bull-fight has been so often de- 
scribed that it would be uselefs for me to 
attempt it. Some of the feats are full of 
daring, and exhibit great skill and agility, 
and are very exciting ; but I think it can 



64 Southern France and Spain, 

scarcely be a matter of doubt that such 
exhibitions must necefsarily exercise a per- 
nicious influence upon the people. All 
clafses, of both sexes, attend regularly, and 
therefore all partake of the taint, which 
among a lazy, ignorant, pleasure-loving 
and pleasure-seeking people, must be much 
greater than among a diflferent population. 

The ignorance of all clafses in Spain is 
remarkable. I was asked if America was 
part of England, by a well-to-do shop- 
keeper ; and I could fill a page with such 
remarks, by people of the best social posi- 
tion, which were told me while we were in 
Madrid, by those who had lived there a 
long time, and the peasants, who bear the 
reputation of being the most honest clafs, 
are wonderfully ignorant. 

The life of a woman of fashion is divided 
between eating, drinking, sleeping, driving 
on the Prado, the theatre, oper^ and balls. 
Men who have enough to enable them to 
live plainly and drefs well, lounge about 
all day, smoking cigarettes, and haunt the 
theatres and cafes at night. It is an old 



Chapter VI L — Madrid. 65 

maxim that idlenefs is the parent of vice, 
and the family is consequently very numer- 
ous. The clergy, provided with immense 
revenues, largely choose their profefsion for 
the means of livelihood ; and while they 
discharge the duties required by the forms 
of the church, care nothing for the educa- 
tion of their flocks, as witnefs the statistics 
— which show that out of a population 
of about 16,000,000, three-fourths, or 
12,000,000, can neither read nor write. 
With ignorance travel poverty and crime, 
and Spain — -blefsed with fertile soil, fine 
cTimate, rich stores of minerals, coals and 
marbles — groans under the curses of want 
of intelligence, want of good government, 
and want of religion. Let the cause of 
education be really undertaken in earnest, 
the government liberalized and reformed, 
and the church purified, and Spain may 
yet regain her proud position among the 
Catholic powers of Europe. 

We accompanied Mrs. Perry — wife of 
our Secretary of Legation — one afternoon, 

• to the Hall of the Cortes, (the meaning 

I 



66 Southern France and Spain. 

of which word is courteous^ to hear the 
debates. The general style was most de- 
corous. All the members were well drefsed^ 
and sat with their gloves on — as we would 
do at a theatre — evidently debating some 
question concerning which was much ex- 
citement ; but their conduct of it would be 
a good model for some of our Southern 
brethren in Congrefs — even the valiant 
Roufseau, or his Egyptian opponent^ or 
the poetical Cooper. 

The days pafsed rapidly, and when even- 
ing came, and dinner was over, there 
generally gathered in our sitting-room Mr. 
W., Col. F., and Capt. H. — three English 
gentlemen — to discufs a cup of real English 
breakfast tea, which we had taken the pre- 
caution to bring a supply of from England. 
Many were the political discufsions, the 
anecdotes of people, and manners in Spain, 
Portugal and Fayal, in which Col. F. had 
had many adventures ; and many were the 
cigars and cups of tea that vanished in those 
pleasant evenings. One story of the Col- 
onel's is worth preserving for its singularity : * 



Chapter VII , — Madrid. 67 

^' There grows in Catalonia a weed that 
will make the fortune of him who shall 
discover it, for it will eat iron, and cut into 
the strongest bars in the smallest space of 
time. Once upon a time, some boys were 
hunting birds' nests, and they came upon 
one wherein were some rare and beautiful 
birds. Afraid to disturb them, one watched 
while the other went for a cover of iron wire 
to put over the nest, so as to keep them 
(the birds) prisoners until a cage could be 
procured. The cover was brought and put 
carefully over the nest, and the boys retired 
in great glee. The next day they returned 
with a cage, but their cover was gone, and 
the birds as well. Wonderingly, they 
searched the ground at the foot of the tree 
for the cover, but found only some bits of 
wire. Some weeds were lying about also, 
and happening to touch the wire with a 
weed, it straightway fell into two pieces, 
and the secret was discovered. Other birds, 
friends of the prisoners, discovering their 
distrefs, had brought this wonderful weed, 
and laid it upon the cover, which, falling 



68 Southern France and Spain. 

to pieces, left them free. But where the 
weed came from no one knows to this day, 
and the discovery is yet reserved for some 
fortunate man/' 

The hours in Madrid are later than in 
any capital I have seen. Long after m_id- 
night the roar of carriages, and the cries of 
newsboys, peddlers and others, rise from 
the street, so loud that if one shut his eyes 
it would be easier to imagine himself in 
New York, at noon of day, than in a city 
at noon of night. Businefs, the hotels, 
and every body, must conform ; and one 
morning, when about nine o'clock, I rang 
the bell and inquired what they had for 
breakfast, the answer was : ''They have not 
come from market yet, sir. I don't know 
what we will have." 

On Sunday commenced the Carnival. 
For two or three days previous had the 
tomtoms sounded in the streets ; but now 
began the real masquerade. Companies of 
men, in almost every imaginable variety of 
costume, paraded the streets ; some with 
brafs bands, some with flutes and tam- 



Chapter VII, — Madrid, » 69 

bourines, some with bag-pipes, and some 
with castanets ; stopping here and there in 
the crowded street to dance, while the scouts, 
with their caps or tambourines, begged 
from all pafsers ; jumping on the steps of 
carriages, putting their arms around the 
men and women they met, calling to the 
spectators who crowded the windows, and 
carefully collecting any amount of copper 
coins which were thrown to them. The 
Calle Alcalde a street leading to the Prado, 
was thronged with carriages, and the Prado 
and the principal streets filled with all 
manner of people, masked or unmasked, 
on foot, on horseback, or in carriages. It 
was one constant, universal frolic, and so 
continued, with masked balls at night, for 
three days, when the Lenten season com- 
menced. 




Chapter VIII. — Toledo — La Mancha. 




EAVING Madrid in the afternoon, 
^^^ pafsing through Aranjuez en route^ 
we arrived at Toledo at ten P. M., 
and were conveyed by the one solitary 
omnibus of the town to our hotel, where 
we got tolerably comfortable beds and 
meals, but, for the first time, no butter. 
One can always find excellent chocolate, 
bread, salad, and generally a good cutlet or 
chop, however, wherever he goes. 

The sun was very warm the next day, 
when we set out for the sword manufactory 
on the plain below the city, about half an 
hour's walk, — but if we had chosen to ride 
we could not have done so, for carriages are 
not to be obtained. We walked, therefore, 



Chapter VIII, — Toledo — La Mancha. 71 

and went through the building, seeing the 
various procefses of manufacture, and the 
elastic blades that bend in circles without 
breaking. 

On the way back, we visited the old 
Roman Amphitheatre, now but a mafs of 
ruins, crofsed the old Roman bridge, and 
mounted the hill on which the city stands, 
preceded by a water-carrier, driving a 
couple of donkeys loaded with panniers 
full of jars of water. He sang one of 
those peculiarly monotonous, plaintive 
songs to be heard in Spain, and was lazily 
walking and watching the strangers. Nearly 
all the music of Spain has a burthen of 
sorrow^, as if the lofs of its former greatnefs 
had unconsciously saddened its people. 

We visited old Moorish houses, with 
their singular ceilings and tiled walls, and • 
courts in which are sunk deep wells ; the 
old palace, or Alcazar, ruined by the French 
at the time of the invasion ; the College, 
adorned with exquisite marble work, built 
by Cardinal Ximenes; saw the old Moorish 
walls and gateways, and the churches, and 



7 2 Southern France and Spain, 

finally came to the celebrated Cathedral, 
ornamented with carvings of wood and 
stone, and lighted by exquisite painted 
windows. 

It is about 400 feet in length by 200 in 
width, built in the Gothic style of archi- 
tecture, surmounted by a tower 329 feet 
high, of great beauty, although not so 
beautiful as those of Burgos, and, like that 
Cathedral, is hidden by surrounding build- 
ings. In one of the chapels we were shown 
the stone, surrounded by red jasper, on 
which the Virgin alighted when she appeared 
to San Idefonso, on this very spot, and, in 
return for his championship, clothed him 
with a chasuble of great splendor. 

A very curious sight, too, is a statue of 
the Virgin, carved in black wood, seated on 
a silver throne, crowned with a tiara full 
of precious stones, and clothed in silk and 
brocade embroidered with gold and pearls. 
It is supposed to be 1,100 or 1,200 years 
old. 

Toledo, on a rocky eminence, skirted 
by the 'Mordly Tagus,'' is the most pic- 



Chapter VIII, — Toledo — La Mancha. 73 

turesque city we saw in Spain. At present 
it is even more dead than Valladolid in ap- 
pearance, and now but about 17,000 people 
live where once were courts of mighty 
monarchs, wealthy nobles, the celebrated 
Archbishops, who guided States and mar- 
shalled armies — familiar alike with court 
and camp — where 30,000 fighting men were 
mustered, and 10,000 hands were employed 
in its factories. 

For 150 years Capital of Gothic Spain, 
373 of Moorish Spain, and again the seat 
of the court of Charles V, now but a de- 
serted town, with narrow, crooked streets, 
and interesting chiefly as a remnant of the 
past, ^^Ichabod" is written upon its gates. 

Hence ifsued forth Don Roderick — to 
fight the invading Moor — in splendid state, 
attended by his noble cavaliers, — but hither 
returned he never. Here was born Perez 
de Vargas, that flower of chivalry, renowned 
in Spanish song. To-day the beggar sleeps 
in the sun, the water-carrier drones his 
monotonous song, and the glory of the 
past has faded. 

K 



74 Southern France and Spain, 

After two or three days spent in Toledo, 
we set forth again for Cordova at six P. M. 
In a couple of hours we arrived at Castillejo, 
where we waited three more for a train. 
We talked with an old guard, to while away 
the time ; and seeing him eat a sort of 
sugar-puff, soaked in a large glafs of water, 
tried it ourselves, but not with such great 
succefs as to induce us to repeat the ex- 
periment. Finally I borrowed from the 
bar-keeper (as we should call the man who 
sold water, wine, oranges and sugar,) a 
pack of cards. Spanish cards have no eight, 
nine or ten spots, nor are the face cards 
marked similarly to ours. Distinguishing 
them, however, as sw^ords, cups, clubs and 
round things, it was pofsible to make a 
game of euchre, and so beguile the time 
until the train arrived. 

We were told that- we should reach Al- 
cazar in an hour, but we fell asleep, and 
finally awaking, I found it was quarter to 
one, and there we were, flying along at a 
rate never before or since known in Spain, 
and only to be accounted for upon the 



Chapter VIII . — Toledo — La Mancha, 75 

theory that the locomotive had a sweetheart 
in Valencia, whom he was anxious to reach 
as soon as pofsible ! ♦ 

Painful surmises of our courier's having 
gone to sleep, as well as ourselves, flashed 
through our minds, and that instead of 
having changed cars at Alcazar, as v/e should 
have done, we were on our way to Valencia, 
while our baggage was en route for Cordova, 
(as happened to Commodore Mackenzie 
once tipon a time — -as told ttl~ "tiiF capital 
^'Year in Spain,") and our large invest- 
ment in diligence tickets was a failure. We 
had already begun to speculate on what we 
should do on arrival at Valencia — where we 
should be without a courier as well a^ bag- 
gage, for of course he would never appear 
before us again — when the train stopped, 
and the guard shouted ^'Alcazar!'' 

What was the matter with that place I 
do not know, but as it was a very cold 
night, I strongly suspect it had run down 
the road for twenty miles or so, in order 
to keep warm, and forgot to come back in 
time for the train. 



76 Southern France and Spain. 

Here we disembarked, and were shown 
into a huge room, where were perhaps an 
hundred men and women, dividing their 
attentions between coffee and sandwiches, 
and the endeavor to imitate the sounds at 
Babel, after the confusion of the builders' 
tongues. The nasal French, soft Italian, 
sonorous Spanish, and guttural German, 
were all heard, and close by us, from a form 
clothed in a capacious fur-lined coat, came 
the sound of sneezes ending with ski^ which 
betrayed the Rufsian. Unwilling that 
America should be unrepresented in such a 
congrefs of nations, we contributed our 
share to the conversation, and attended to 
the coffee and sandwiches. 

Being well warmed, we entered the cars 
again, awaking at five A. M. at Santa Cruz. 
Many drivers of rival diligences accosted 
us, upon whom we smiled blandly, answer- 
ing them not again, while our excellent 
Manuel secured us our coupe, (or front 
compartment,) in the '^ Madrilena,'' a huge 
concern drawn by ten mules. 

A woman presented hot chocolate, which. 



Chapter VIII , — Toledo — La Mane ha. 77 

as the morning was frosty, was very refresh- 
ing, and we prepared for our long ride. 
Before leaving we received a number of 
calls from gentlemen resident in Santa 
Cruz, who addrefsed vis with a series of re- 
marks in Spanish, which, unfortunately, we 
were unable to understand. From their 
tone, and the frequent use of the words 
^^ amor di Dios'' we concluded that they were 
either religious persons wishing to touch 
our hearts, or persons in impecunious 
circumstances, who desired to touch our 
pockets. We smiled benignantly upon 
them for some time, distributed a few cop- 
pers, and then, weary of their attentions, 
pulled up the windows of the coach. From 
their tone of voice as they turned away, 
we judged that the interview had not been 
altogether satisfactorv to them, which we 
of course regretted. 

^' Crack went the whip, round went the 
wheels," and amid shouts and cries of the 
driver and whipper we were off. The 
whipper is an institution peculiar to this 
route, and, so far as I know, to this par- 



7 8 Southern France and Spain, 

ticular diligence, for I have never seen him 
described in anv books. Drefsed in 
breeches, leg:ging;s and shirt, with a slouch 
hat and a gav waistband, he sits beside the 
driver, and makes it his businefs to see 
that the proper rate of speed is kept up. 
Should the stretch of level road be long, 
and the mules given to slow progrefs, or 
be thev inclined to walk, or even trot slowly 
up hill, down jumps the vigilant whipper, 
runs to the front, and as each pair of ani- 
mals pafses, he makes a long;, limber stick 
bend over their backs, compelling them 
into a full gallop, and then picking up a 
few stones wherewith to pelt particular pets, 
he runs up again, swings himself lightly to 
the seat, and with his hand beating on his 
mouth, gives vent to a long howl of en- 
couragement. As this ceremony is being 
continually performed, the whipper, though 
a verv agile, active, spare voung man, is 
changed with the mules every hour. 

It was a lovelv dav for our ride. Unlike 
all other travelers who ever wrote concern- 
ing that route, we had no accidents, delays, 



Chapter VIII , — Toledo — La Mancha. 79 

or other matter, to complain of. The mules 
did not tangle up, nor stand on their heads; 
the dilio^ence lost neither a wheel nor its 
balance ; the road was in capital order ; we 
had the best seats in the concern ; and, 
with a o;ood basket of cold chicken and 
partridge, and a bottle of Valdepenas, we 
cared nothing for poor hotels by the way — 
in which, however, one can always procure 
good omelettes and Bread, and excellent 
chocolate. 

The road acrofs La Mancha is over a 
great sandy plain, with few villages of adobe 
houses, and a beggarly population. Corn 
and wine are the chief productions. Wind- 
mills tofs their long arms in the air, inviting 
attack from Don Ouixote, and, as in the 
rest of Spain, few trees are to be seen. 

The pafsage of the Sierra presents some 
interesting and wild mountain views ; and 
here and there one sees parties of workmen, 
who are driving tunnels through the granite 
hills for the railroad to Cordova. 

Although the ride was a pleasant one, 
and the day was fine, we were not sorry 



8o Southern France and Spain, 

when, at ten o'clock in the evening, the 
diligence stopped before the door of a 
comfortable hotel in Cordova. 

The postillion, who had ridden the fore- 
most animal for seventeen consecutive 
hours, followed us into the hotel to claim 
his perquisite, and when we gave him half 
a dollar, retired fully satisfied. 





Chapter IX. — Cordova. 




GOOD sleep and an excellent 
breakfast caused us to forget the 
fatigues of our trip ; and the next 
morning we first visited the Cathedral. 
The day was warm and sunny, presenting a 
great contrast to the climate of the northern 
elevated plains, — and as we pafsed along the 
clean streets, between rows of white houses 
with green balconies and blinds, and peeped 
through the gateways into the open courts, 
where orange and lemon trees were growing, 
laden with golden fruit, and the lofty palm 
towered above the plashing fountain, — we 
felt the charm of this beautiful Andalusia; 
and in answer to the question of our courier, 
how long we should stay in the city, my 

L 



8 2 Southern France and Spain. 

answer was instantaneous and earnest : ^^ I 
don't feel now as if I should ever quit this 
place." 

Entering the gate of the court of the 
Cathedral, we found ourselves in a grove 
of orange trees loaded with fruit, sur- 
rounding a fountain at which the faithful 
Moslem performed his ablutions before 
entering the sacred building — a practice 
which might be imitated by his Christian 
succefsors, greatly to their advantage. 

Pafsing in through the principal entrance, 
we looked upon a building as singular in 
architecture as in beauty. With a low roof 
— seeming lower than it really is, by reason 
of the forest of marble pillars which sup- 
port the double arches upon which it rests, 
and of great size, — it contrasted strongly 
with the Gothic Cathedrals we had lately 
visited. The effect is injured by the great 
choir and high altar erected in its centre; but, 
as we stood looking from one end through 
the pillars and arches, we remembered the 
days of its glory, when from fretted arches 
swung hundreds of lamps, the light of which 



Chapter IX. — Cordova. 83 

illumined the vast interior, and was reflected 
back from thousands of precious stones, 
while on the floor the turbaned Moslem 
bowed his head before the holy place where 
was kept the Koran, and we forgot the 
defect. 

Niiie^Jiundred years ago, Cordova was 



the home of a million of people; the centre 
of learning and intelligence in the world ; 
its rulers vied with oriental princes in. 
luxury and state ; the minarets of three 
hundred mosques rose in the air, while 
twice as many inns, and three times as 
many baths, were provided for the comfort 
of the inhabitants, and the crowds of 
strangers who resorted thither ; and its 
chief mosque was inferior only to that of 
Damascus in size, and to the Caaba of 
Mecca in holinefs. Now — here and there 
— the quotations from the Koran may still 
be seen upon its walls ; the pillars of 
marble, and jasper, and porphyry, brought 
from Nismes, and Narbonne, and Carthage, 
and Constantinople, still support the light 
arches ; but the sixteen hundred lamps no 



84 Southern France and Spain, 

longer are suspended from the roof; the 
brilliant coloring is hidden with whitewash ; 
the organ peals and the censer swings within 
it ; and the Moslem has left only the relics 
of his proud and elegant dominion. The 
grafs growls in the streets ; learning and 
power have departed ; and where a great 
multitude once gathered, but forty thousand 
now exist. 

Not very far from the mosque, just out 
of one of the gates of the city, the Guadal- 
quiver is spanned by a bridge, built by the 
Romans, guarded at the further end by a 
Moorish tower ; while, at the other end, is 
the gate of the city erected by Ferdinand 
and Isabella, — presenting thus, hand in 
hand, relics of the three proudest of Spain's 
rulers. 

In Cordova, as in Seville, the houses are 
built about square open courts, with covered 
arcades on each side, and fountains, orange 
and lemon trees, the cactus and other plants, 
and palm trees, in the centre. In the 
summer rods are put acrofs, over this open 
space, and the whole covered with an awning ; 



Chapter IX. — Cordova. 85 

and the family, thus protected from the sun, 
having no rain to fear, bring down their 
furniture into the arcades, and spend their 
days in the open air. 

After a short stay we went to Seville, the 
road running near the river, through fields 
hedged with the aloe and prickly pear, with 
here and there orchards of orange and olive 
trees, and now and then a palm. It is said 
that th e first^ palm tree ever planted in 
Spain was brought there by one of the 
Moorish monarchs, who desired to thus 
keep green the memory of his beloved 
Damascus. 







HAPTER X. — Seville. 




F course, in Seville, as in Cordova, 
]^:^ the first visit is to the Cathedral, a 
i^^ Gothic building;, said to be the largrest 
in the world, except St. Peter's in Rome, of 
which, however, I shall not attempt to give 
a labored description, as, like that, it has 
been so often described by others. At its 
side rises the Giralda — a tower 350 feet in 
height, built originally by the Moors, but 
changed at the summit and added to by the 
Spaniards subsequently. It is thirty-five 
feet square, and ascended, not by steps, but 
by a winding inclined plane inside, up which 
one could easily ride a horse. From the 
summit the view is very extended over the 
city and surrounding plain, through which 



Chapter X, — Seville, 87 

winds the Guadalquiver, sparkling in the 
sunlight. Near its top hangs a chime of 
twenty-five bells, being the same number 
as the churches in Seville. 

On the summit of the tower is mounted 
an immense bronze figure of a woman 
holding a shield, said to weigh 9,000 
pounds, so lightly poised as to turn with 
every breeze. It is singular enough that 
this weathercock bears the name of Faith. 

Pafsing through the court, we enter the 
wondrous structure, and walk with reverence 
through the lofty naves, lighted with the 
^'dim, religious light" that streams through 
the painted windows; stop before the tomb 
of St. Ferdinand, and muse of home as 
the eye rests upon the slab of marble that 
marks the grave of the son of Columbus. 

But often must the traveler return in 
the morning to linger before the wonderful 
achievements of Murillo — '^The Guardian 
Angel," and '^St. Anthony of Padua." In 
the former, the angel, leading a little boy 
by the hand — the countenance of the angel 
filled with benignity and wisdom, that of 



8 8 Southern France and Spain, 

the child exprefsive of innocence^ franknefs 
and hope — fully justify the high praises 
bestowed upon the painting. The latter is 
thought to be one of Murillo's grandest 
works. The infant Jesus, in the midst of 
cherubs, angels, and light, descends to blefs 
his faithful follower in answer to his prayers. 
The Duke of Wellington is said to have 
offered to cover the picture, which is very 
large, with gold pieces, as the price for its 
purchase, but the chapter refused to sell. 

In the Hospital, La Caridad^ we saw two 
other celebrated works of this great master 
— one called '^The Thirst" — La Sed — 
representing ^' Moses Striking the Rock,'' 
from which gushes the water eagerly caught 
by the famished multitude, — the other, 
'^The Miracle of the Loaves and the 
Fishes." Here formerly hung also ''Santa 
Isabella," washing the sores of a beggar- 
boy's head — a picture remarkable alike for 
the beauty of Isabella and her attendants, 
and the accurate loathsomenefs of the 
sufferers ; but after Marshal Soult had 
carried it to Paris, and it had been restored. 



Chapter X, — Seville. 89 

it remained in Madrid, instead of being 
returned to its original position, for which 
the subject is peculiarly suited. 

Two of the most interesting sights in 
Seville are the Casa Pilata^ or House of 
Pilate, and the Alcazar. 

The former, a curious mixture of Moor- 
ish and Gothic architecture, is so called 
because it has a room said to resemble in 
every particular a portion of the house of 
Pilate of Judea, and a stone pillar is said 
to be the fac simile of that at which Christ 
was scourged. 

The latter was formerly the Moorish 
palace, added to and enlarged by the various 
rulers of Spain ; restored to its ancient 
style of ornamentation and splendor, it is 
now kept as one of the royal palaces. 

In no place in Spain did I experience the 
same sense of the physical luxury that the 
Moors delighted in. Standing on the cool 
marble floor, in a room of which the walls 
are richly adorned with delicate tracery of 
stucco, colored with gold, and red, and 
blue, and green, — looking through a long 



M 



go Southern France and Spain. 

vista of gorgeous rooms — through arches 
fretted with seeming lace-work, with the 
sun pouring his golden light in at the 
windows — while the cool breezes are laden 
with the fragrance of tropical flowers and 
the rich scent of orange blofsoms, and the 
song of birds and the plash of fountains 
fall upon the ear — one can not help wishing 
for a day to spend with the learned, elegant 
and luxurious Moor. 

'^ It is impofsible/' says Irving, ^^ to 
travel about Andalusia, and not imbibe a 
kind feeling for those Moors. They de- 
served this beautiful country. They won 
it bravely; they enjoyed it generously and 
kindly. No lover ever delighted more to 
cherish and adorn a mistrefs, to heighten 
and illustrate her charms, and to vindicate 
and defend her against all the world, than 
/ did the Moors to embellish, elevate and 
enrich their beloved Spain. Everywhere I 
met traces of their sagacity, courage, ur- 
banity, high poetical feeling, and elegant 
taste. The noblest institutions in this part 
of Spain, the best inventions for comfort- 



Chapter X, — Seville, 91 

able and agreeable living, and all those 
habitudes and customs which throw a pecu- 
liar and oriental charm over the Andalusian 
mode of living, may be traced to the Moors. 
Whenever I enter these beautiful marble 
patios, set out with shrubs and flowers, 
refreshed by fountains, sheltered with awn- 
ings from the sun ; where the air is cool at 
noonday, the ear delighted in sultry summer 
by the sound of falling water; where, in a 
word, a little paradise is shut up within the 
walls of home; I think on the poor Moors, 
the inventors of all these delights. I am 
at times almost ready to join in sentiment 
with a worthy friend and countryman whom 
I met in Malaga, who swears the Moors 
are the only people that ever deserved the 
country, and prays to heaven they may 
come over from Africa and conquer it 
again." 

I think that friend a most sensible person, 
and if they should return with the keys to 
their dwellings, which they have handed 
down from generation to generation, to 
take pofsefsion and dwell there, and again 



92 Southern France and Spain. 

make the fertile soil bring forth its fruit by 
their patient toil, and restore the magnifi- 
cence of the olden time, I, for one, would 
bid them God speed ! 

From such buildings as the Alcazar, to 
go to the Cannon Foundry, and the Tobacco 
Factory, where 5,000 women are employed, 
and where the stranger must endure the 
ordeal of 5,000 tongues and 10,000 bright 
inquisitive eyes, is like awaking from a de- 
licious reverie after reading the '^Arabian 
Nights," to find oneself in the reality of a 
political meeting. 

An intermediate step is the Museum, 
where are collected several works of Murillo 
and a number by other Spanish artists of 
note. Zurbaran has one representing a 
dozen or so of monks, with white robes 
and red caps, seated at a table on a fast-day, 
whereon are dishes laden with smoking 
meats and such carnal luxuries. Enters 
unto them the prior of the convent, with 
stern visage, and the surprised sinners are 
filled with the empty wind of consternation, 
instead of the anticipated forbidden flesh. 



Chapter X. — Seville, gi^ 

The attitudes and exprefsion of the coun- 
tenances are capital. 

One of the principal streets in Seville, 
where ladies go shopping — for as babies in 
all countries cry in the same language, so 
do women in all countries alike delight in 
shopping — has rods extended acrofs from 
the roofs of the houses, over which in 
summer an awning is drawn, keeping the 
walk — for no carriages are allowed to enter 
— clean and cool — a fashion to be envied in 
our heated terms. 

As we were riding along in the city one 
day, we had a rather exciting opportunity 
to see one of the favorite amusements in 
Seville. The street was not wide enough 
to turn in, and straight before and trotting 
towards us was a wild bull, with lofty head 
and fiery eye, followed by a crowd of 
screaming boys and men. If he had taken 
a fancy to pay attention to our horses, we 
should have had a private bull-fight that we 
did not relish the prospect of, the advantage 
being all on the bull's side. But he pafsed 
by and made for an old woman, whose gaily 



94 Southern France and Spain, 

covered cloak attracted his attention. She, 
called to a sense of her situation bv the 
clamor ot the crowd, rushed into an open 
doorwav and escaped, and the animal pro- 
ceeded on his wav, monarch of the street. 

The citv itself lies on the left bank of 
the Guadalquiver, which winds around its 
walls, which are about five miles in circum- 
ference, with sixtv-six towers and fifteen 



gates. 



A prosperous trading seat under the 
Phoenicians ; favored bv the Romans ; 
erected into the capital ot Boetica bv Julius 
Caesar ; the court of the Gothic monarchs 
for hftv vears ; the most important city in 
Spain, after Cordova, under the Moors ; 
famous for its silks and other fabrics, its 
schools and universities, and its extensive 
trade, — it was taken bv Ferdinand, A. D. 
I 248, and its population of 400,000 Moors, 
Jews, and Arabs, driven without its walls. 

'' It was the beloved citv of the Moslem 
— the gold and lace tent of the sensual 
Eastern — who planted it on the banks of 
the Guadalquiver^^to dream life away amid 



Chapter X, — Seville. 95 

the enchantments of refined taste, which he 
lavished his gold and genius to adorn, and 
his blood to defend and fortify. Here 
once, in the evening twilight, the muezzin's 
monotonous cry rang through the still air 
from the rosy towers of the Giralda, calling 
myriads of Moslems to prayer. The halls 
of the Alcazar, all glittering with gold and 
vivid colors, bathed in an ocean of light, 
were thronged with crowds of courtiers, 
garbed in long flowing robes, haughty war- 
riors in floating burnooses, grey-bearded 
Alfaquirs, and obsequious ambafsadors 
from the courts of Castile, Arragon, 
Genoa, and other States. Its voluptuous 
harems extended amidst palm and orange 
groves to the river's banks, where black- 
eyed houris whiled their listlefs hours away, 
gazing on the Guadalquiver, where rocked 
on its crystal bosom heavily-laden, white- 
sailed feluccas, bearing the commerce of the 
world. Its bazaars were then full of the 
richest silks, in the manufacture of which 
upwards of two hundred thousand persons 
were employed. Its schools — rivals in 



g6 Southern France and Spain. 

learning of those at Cordova and Grenada 
—were frequented by the very Castilian and 
Arragonese princes, whose fathers envied 
the magnificence of this court and dreaded 
the valor of its armies. ^ -^ =^ Not only a 
city of pleasures and the repository of arts, 
but the centre, with Cordova, of European 
civilization/' 

Over one of its gates is inscribed the 
following couplet : 

" Condidit Alcides — renovavit Julius urbem, 
Restituit Christo Fernandus tertius heros." 

And the Sevillians declare that he who 
hath not seen Seville, hath not seen a 
wonder. 

" Quien no ha visto Sevilla, 
No ha visto maravilla." 

And certainly no book can give one a clear 
idea of the charms of the cities of Anda- 
lusia; they must be seen in order to be 
appreciated. 

At the siege of the city, by Ferdinand, 
occurred the gallant act of Don Garcia 
Perez de Vargas, who rode, as told by 
Lockhart in his ballads, through a band of 



Chapter X, — Seville. 97 

seven Moors, and then having dropped his 
scarf, rode back again alone for it, his 
enemies each time fearing to attack a knight 
of such renown. 

We had pleasant rooms at the Hotel de 
PariSy looking out upon an open space, 
through which the cavalry marched every 
day to the music of the ^^barbarous horn ;" 
and when tired with rambling about, we 
would sit by the window, looking out upon 
the little booth below — where water, lemon- 
ade, almond-water, and similar beverages, 
were sold to thirsty Spaniards — and watch 
the pafsers-by, — now a couple of priests, 
with long black gowns, and felt hats, with 
wide rims rolled up at the side, and pro- 
jecting half a yard in front and rear — now a 
woman, with glofsy black hair and graceful 
mantilla- — now a water-carrier, with his jar 
upon his head, crying his " acqua frisca ;'' 
and here and there a beggar — such as 
Murillo would have loved to put upon the 
canvafs — with sun-browned skin, and coun- 
tenance exprefsive of content with rags. 

When tired of these amusements, and 

N 



4 



98 Southern France and Spain. 

of eating oranges freshly pulled from the 
blofsom-covered tree, it was delightful to 
turn to the pages of Prescott and Irving, 
and bring the past vividly to mind. 

One morning I started out to see the 
Barber of Seville, His house I found, but 
Figaro is no longer qui nor la ; but a sober 
carpenter occupies his premises. Not 
fancying being shaved with a plane, I re- 
turned to the hotel. 

It was delightful at Seville, with its grand 
Cathedral and gorgeous palace, its clean 
streets, pictures, balconied houses, and 
walks through groves of orange trees, 
whose golden fruit peeped from the dark 
green foliage, while the blofsoms perfumed 
the air ; but time was precious, and reluc- 
tantly we left for Cadiz. 




Chapter XI. — Cadiz — Gibraltar, 




HE hotels of Cadiz are all poor, 
says Harper's Handbook, and so 
Wj^ r far ^s my experience goes, it leads 
me to credit that afsertion. Certainly the 
hotel was poor in comparison with those 
of New York and Philadelphia, the quiet 
inns of England, or the luxurious palaces 
of Switzerland ; but compared with those 
of Burgos and Valladolid, our hotel was a 
luxurious abode. It was cold in the even- 
ings certainly, and when tired of shivering 
in shawls and overcoats, we inhaled headaches 
from the brazero^ and were not in a frame of 
mind to praise the hotel very highly. But 
the bed was clean, the table fair, and the 
sherry cheap and exceedingly dry. 



I oo Southern France and Spain, 

We intended to spend but a day in 
Cadiz ; but in Spain things are never done 
as in other countries, and so it happened 
that every day we walked down the street, 
and read one or more advertisements of 
velsels to sail on the morrow posted on the 
walls, and comforting ourselves with hope, 
proceeded to the Alameda^ where we walked 
up and down the long gravelled promenade, 
looking out upon the sparkling sea, or up 
at the two tall palms v/hich stand like 
sentinels near the church ; or sat in the 
sun in the open square, eating bananas, in 
contemplative mood ; or rambled by the 
city walls, watching the fishermen, and en- 
joying the lovelinefs of the beautiful bay. 
And these amusements, except that of a_ 
cigar and a New York paper at the ConsuTs^ 
office, of a morning, were about all that 
Cadiz had to offer. 

There is no sight-seeing to be done, 
which perhaps is rather a relief than other- 
wise ; and in spite of Byron, and travelers 
in general, I could not rouse any enthusiasm 
whatever over the beauty of the ladies. 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar, loi 

They walk well, and show now and then a 
dainty foot and ankle, but English and 
Germans are not good judges of such 
matters. The English, who are born with 
umbrellas, rave over the skies of any 
country where it does not rain every day, 
and neither m_all^ England nor Germany, 
are there so many pretty women as in New 
York Cit)rr^^But an American, who has 
lived among beautiful women all his life, is 
more critical. One whose knowledge jq£ 



-v lis"^'*' ^=^'">"''^*'^*m<m"j 



art is confined to the photographic gallery 
of a small town, will vastly admire a paint^ 
ing which he who is accvistomed to the 
treasures of Florence and of Rome, wiU 
pafs by witBout a second glance. 

One morning, strolling into a church 
which oflfered no particular architectural 
attraction, I noticed one of the Cadiz ladies 
on her knees before the altar. A young 
man pafsing through a side aisle called to 
her, and some pleasant remarks pafsed 
between them, when he proceeded on his 
way, and she took up her prayers again. A 
few such sights as this will cause one to ask 



I02 Southern France and Spain. 

himself, v/hether the prohibition of all 
conversation between men and women, 
posted up in large letters on the walls of 
the Cathedral at Malaga, under the penalty 
of ?ijine of two dollars and excommunication^ is 
altogether needlefs. 

One fine morning we were to start for 
Xerez, under the care of our obliging 
Consul, but he not being able to be absent 
long enough for that trip, we went to 
Puerto Santa Maria, to see the wine-cellars 
there. An Englishman, acting as American 
Vice-Consul, received us very politely, and 
was our guide for the morning. His name 
was Crusoe, and he was, he averred, a lineal 
descendant of the famous Robinson. He 
himself had a small wine-house, which we 
examined ; but the chief interest of the trip 
was centered in one — the name of the owner 
of which I do not remember — containing 
8,000 casks. These wine-houses, or bodegas 
as they are called, are on the surface of the 
ground, instead of being below it ; but 
being large, lofty and dark, are cool and 
pleasant. We tasted many varieties of wine. 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar, 103 

and listened to a long account of the man- 
ufacture of the wine, through all the stages ; 
but I may be excused from attempting to 
give a long recital of it, with my recollection 
impaired by the time that has elapsed since 
then. Suffice it to say, it was very inter- 
esting, and, with delicate Manzanilla and 
Amontillado, by no means dry. 

On the way home we occvipied the same 
car with a muscular mifsionary from Africa, 
who was taking Cadiz en route for England, 
whose tongue being loosed, gave us some 
wonderful stories of boar hunting, and 
explained how much more safe it was to 
knock down Jews than Moors. The gentle 
mifsionary was also returning from a visit 
to the bodegas^ and was seemingly much 
elated by what he had seen. 

At last, one afternoon, we were notified 
that a boat would certainly start that evening 
for Gibraltar precisely at nine o'clock, and 
that we must be on board before dark. So 
hastening dinner, we got together our traps, 
and set out. In a few minutes we were 
rowed to the vefsel, and having secured a 



1 04 Southern France and Spain, 

state-room, retired early, expecting to wake 
at Gibraltar. But we did not yet under- 
stand Spanish ways. It was four in the 
morning before we started, and we reached 
Gibraltar about noon. 

In a few mJnutes we were pulled along 
shore by some Spanish boatmen, and our 
baggage followed us to the Custom-House, 
where, for the first time in Spain, my 
pafsport was demanded by a tall, awkward 
soldier, with a tight, red jacket, little skull 
cap, fastened to the side of his head, and a 
short rattan. Producing this, examination 
of baggage was waived, and I received a 
permit to remain three days in the town, 
which, however, I did not take the trouble 
afterward to have renewed. On the landing 
was gathered the most motley crowd I 
ever saw — turbaned Turks and Moors, red- 
capped Greeks, English soldiers and sailors, 
dirty Italians, and Spaniards, and Jews, 
with a very Babel of sounds. 

Moors are plentiful at Gibraltar — some 
with long robe and turban, but the great 
majority clothed in a simple garment like a 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar, 105 

shirt of dirty white, leaving the arms and 
legs below the knee bare, skull cap on the 
head, and heellefs slippers on their feet. 
The most remarkable thing about them is 
their walk. Large and well made, they 
have an erectnefs of figure and elasticity of 
step, which always commanded my admira- 
tion. 

We found a very comfortable sitting- 
room, with two most remarkable pieces of 
furniture — a piano and a fire-place — at the 
King's Arms Hotel, and a bed-room, which, 
though of the plainest, was most comfort- 
able ; and, of course, at an English hotel, 
plenty of water, and the invigorating 
blefsing of Bafs, whom a Cambridge 
student is said to have once pronounced 
the greatest benefactor of mankind. 

Having letters to the Governor-General, 
and to Col. B., commanding an infantry 
regiment there, I took a hansom — just 
think of a hansom in Spain — and delivered 
them. Their receipt was followed by invi- 
tations to lunch and dinner, and many kind 

attentions on the part of Col. B., who also 

o 



io6 Southern France and Spain, 

entertained us at his quarters, and took us 
all over the rock. 

The rock rises abruptly from the sea on 
the eastern side, sloping down to Europa 
Point at the southern end, with an almost 
perpendicular face towards Spain. The 
slope on the western side is gradual, afford- 
ing good roads and walks, while at the foot 
of the descent lie a few acres of almost level 
ground, whereon are situated the gardens 
and town. 

The town itself is old, dirty, and unin- 
teresting ; but the gardens, with groves of 
trees and shrubbery, lawns, and gravelled 
walks lined with geranium, cacti, and other 
flowers, are very beautiful, and afforded us 
many hours of pleasure. Contiguous to 
the gardens is a large, open, gravelled space, 
where the garrison is drilled, affording quite 
a brilliant scene in the mornings. Toward 
the southern end of the rock are the bar- 
racks and officers' quarters — some of the 
latter having neat little cottages, with gar- 
dens, and a profusion of flowers. 

One morning, after walking over to 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar. 107 

Col. B/s quarters, a couple of miles from 
the hotel, and lunching with him, we walked 
to Europa Point, where he showed us the 
triple line of fortifications, each higher than 
that in front of it, that defend the southern 
approaches, and then wound round by a 
road to the eastern side. At some dis- 
tance up the side of the rock is a cave, 
to which entrance is now forbidden, on 
account of the lofs of a couple of ex- 
ploring soldiers in it some time since. 
The inhabitants of the rock believe that 
there is a great hole in it extending down 
into the sea. Reaching about the middle 
of the eastern side, the road ends, and we 
mounted stone steps, partly natural and 
partly artificial, to the summit, and after 
walking a few minutes longer, arrived at 
the highest point — 1,430 feet above the sea 
— where is the signal station. A small 
house stands there, to accommodate the 
signal-master and his family, who, by re- 
quest of the Colonel, brought us ^' shandy - 
gaff^'' a drink made by mixing one bottle 
of pale ale with two of ginger-beer, and one 



io8 Southern France and Spain, 

which we found very refreshing after our 
tramp. There were formerly many mon- 
keys living on the rock, but they have all 
disappeared except seven, which are forbid- 
den to be molested, and of the appearance 
of each of which a record is kept by the 
signal-master. 

Three great guns are mounted there, 
pointing over the town, of which one is 
fired in the morning, one in the evening, 
after which all ingrefs and egrefs beyond 
the lines are forbidden, and a third at noon. 
When it is desired to give an alarm, as in 
case of fire or mutiny, the three are fired in 
rapid succefsion. 

Somewhat fatigued with climbing up the 
mountain, we sat sipping our shandygaffs 
and enjoying the magnificent prospect. 
To the east was the blue Mediterranean, 
on whose shores were raised the cities, and 
on whose bosom sailed the argosies of 
the nations of the dim past, now covered 
with the white sails of western bound 
vefsels, detained by contrary winds. To 
the south stretched Africa, land of the 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar. 109 

unknown. Before us rose the twin pillars 
of Hercules, and near by lay Tangier, 
from which embarked the Moslem on his 
conquering mifsion. On the east, Tarifa, 
where he landed, shone white in the sun ; a 
little further stood the lighthouse of Cape 
Trafalgar, off the shore of which Nelson 
- won his famous victory ; and beyond rolled 
the waters of the turbulent Atlantic, over 
which fancy easily wafted us to the society 
of friends and home. To the north lay 
the plains and mountains of Spain, the 
white village of San Roque, a few miles 
distant, the dark shadows of the cork wood, 
and, between us and them, the neutral 
ground, on the respective borders of which 
paced the sentinels of either country. 

Not far southward from where we sat, 
was an old ruin, which we visited, of a 
tower built long ago by Governor O'Hara, 
with the idea that from its summit, with a 
proper glafs, one could see over the inter- 
vening hills, and command a view of the 
Bay of Cadiz. As might be supposed, it 
was labor lost. 



no Southern France and Spain, 

Descending the western side of the rock, 
sometimes by winding walks, and again by 
long flights of steps^ which shortened the 
distance, we were overtaken by a shower, 
and hastened to our hotel, arriving just in 
time for an English roast of beef, which, 
after over five hours' constant walking, we 
were not sorry to see. 

One of the chief curiosities of the rock 
consists in its galleries, or tunnels, cut into 
the northern end. These are pafsages of 
several feet in width, and of an average of 
eight or ten feet in height, from which, at 
intervals, open chambers of considerable size, 
their windows forming port-holes, through 
which cannon keep watch upon all the Span- 
ish frontier. There are several of these gal- 
leries extending to the eastern side of the rock. 

This great natural fortrefs is mounted 
with seven hundred guns, mostly of the 
Armstrong pattern, and furnished with 
cisterns of water, and magazines of am- 
munition and provisions, hollowed out of 
the rock, sufficient to enable a proper 
garrison to resist a five years' siege. 



Chapter XL — Cadiz — Gibraltar, 1 1 1 

The weather, while we were there, in 
March, was most delightful, not too warm 
for exercise, nor too cool for open windows, 
and the gardens were filled with flowers. 

Our Consul, Mr. S. — to whom, as to 
his accomplished wife, we were indebted for 
many kind attentions, and for keeping us 
au courant with American news — has a farm 
a few miles from Gibraltar, to which we 
drove one morning, returning laden with 
beautiful flowers. 




Chapter XII. — Malaga. 




^^^&, E had intended to remain but two 
^'S^ o^* three days in Gibraltar, but there, 
as in Cadiz, boats were uncertain, 
and it was a week before we departed. 

At five o'clock, on a bright, warm morn- 
ing, we were rowed out to a small steamer 
lying in the bay, bound for Malaga. 
Climbing on board, we found an English 
peer — a young English gentleman whom 
we afterward learned to call Viscount — and 
his tutor, and a couple of Spanish girls, 
in black drefses, black mantillas, black 
eyes, and black hair, carefully arranged. 
Afterward appeared a tall Spaniard, with a 
rich cloak, bordered within with maroon- 
colored velvet, and a dirty old fellow, who 



Chapter XII. — Malaga. 113 

turned out to be one of the rich merchants 
of Malaga. 

The boat was small, with one tiny cabin 
below deck, and seats along the sides of the 
deck where all sat down. In an hour or 
two we started. We sailed round the great 
rock, the shadow of which lay resting on 
the sea, through the straits, and into the 
blue waters of the Mediterranean. The 
sea was as smooth as glafs, and as we coasted 
along, we watched the changing shores, and 
the half-naked boatmen busy on the water. 

About nine o'clock, feeling the want of 
breakfast, I went below, and found two or 
three sitting at the table ; and inquiring 
what I could have for breakfast, was an- 
swered : ^^Any thing you wish, Senor." 
''Any chicken?" ''No chicken, Senor ; 
but any thing else.'' " Any ham V " No 
ham, Senor ; but any thing else Senor 
wishes." After a variety of questions, I 
learned that "any thing" meant eggs, 
bread without butter, vile coffee without 
milk, and beer. I ordered some eggs and 
bread, and we were falling into travelers' 



114 Southern France and Spain. 

conversation, when we were startled by a 
loud ^^Ahal Aha!" at the door. Looking 
round, we perceived the dirtv old merchant, 
who, coming in, pafsed on to a vacant place 
at the head of the table, stopping to pat the 
young viscount on the head, much to the 
latter's disgust. Having ordered some 
eggs and bread, he pulled from his trowsers' 
pocket a newspaper parcel, which being 
unrolled proved to contain a thick sausage. 
Laving it on his plate, and gazing on it 
fondlv, he gave vent to another loud 
^^Aha!" Then slicing off some pieces 
with his knife, he shoved them upon the 
plate of his neighbor, who protested against 
it. But not understanding that anv one 
would not reallv like his sausage, he only 
smiled, and did the same good office for his 
neighbor on the other side. Fearing his 
kindnefs might reach me, I pushed away 
mv plate. Soon he sliced up the remainder 
— about a pound — on his own plate, and 
once again vented his satisfaction in a 
resonant '^ Aha !'' 

I left the room and came on deck. For 



Chapter XI I. — Malaga. 115 

a time the scene was delightful, but about 
noon the wind began to blow, the sea to 
rise, and soon we were in the midst of one 
of those southern gales for which the 
Mediterranean is famous — sinking now so 
that we could only see the spars of a sailing 
vefsel at a little distance, and then, mount- 
ing to the top of a wave, having a view of 
the whole craft. It was disturbing, to say 
the least of it, and every one finally paid 
unwilling tribute to Neptune, the Spaniard 
alone excepted. Sitting near the edge of 
the deck, he extended his arms about the 
miserable Spanish girls, encouraging them, 
when any more violent paroxysms occurred, 
with the philosophical remark that it was a 
capital thing for them ; in the meantime 
addrefsing them tenderly as his dearest and 
most beautiful, much to the amusement 
of all who were not too sick to watch him. 
The sausage-man had disappeared, and I 
did not see him until we had anchored in 
the Bay of Malaga, when, descending to 
the cabin for my bag and umbrella, I saw 
the old fellow stretched upon a sofa, neither 



1 16 Southern France and Spain. 

saying, looking nor thinking ** Aha !" As 
I turned to go out, he miie an effort to 
r:sr, but the velsel giving another roll, he 
tell aeain to work, and I siw him no more. 
Pr :?aoly, as the poe: says, *'If he hasn t 
^:r up, he lies : rre still." 

A good hoccx, a goovi g^^is ot sherry, a 
hot ?:ith, and a good din: er. s : set all 
right again. ^^ e met some B rstonians, 
who were ver\' :'e-,sir: people, and if ': 
had nc : : e - : for an opera singer, who was 
screec^-'-:g iier iouies: in :he next room, 
until : -r small hours, greatly to the grati- 
fication of a party who were loudly ap- 
plauding, we should have enjoyed our first 
nigrht in ^lalaga verv much. 

The city prescr.:s a fine r r e ^- 

:he sei, and is a - ^r^e town of son::: ^ :, : : : 
inhabitants, chiedy occupied with wine- 
growing and trade. Screened by the north- 
em hills from cold winds, and open on 
: ^ea to the warr.: cistern and southern 
breezes, it is a favorite winter resort for 
invalids. Abou: : e fourteenth cerrury 
:r.e climate was much more moist, owing 



Chapter XII . — Malaga. "117 

to the thick forests with which the hills 
were clothed ; but during the wars waged 
against the Moors, these were cut down, 
and if it were not for the abundant dews, 
vegetation would disappear, and the coast 
become a barren desert. 

The harbor is deep and capacious enough 
to accommodate over four hundred ships ; 
and wines, raisins, figs, lemons, oranges, 
almonds, and other fruits, are largely ex- 
ported. The dry Malaga wine is manufac- 
tured in great quantities, and the exquisite, 
but very sweet, ^' Lagrimas^'' or '^ tears,'' 
made from the first juice of the grape 
without prefsure, is celebrated. 

There is said to gather pleasant society 
at Malaga ; there is a promenade along the 
sea shore, a library, and conveniences of 
correspondence, but few objects of interest. 
The Cathedral is chiefly attractive for its 
fine marbles, taken from the native moun- 
tains, and one or two paintings by Alonso 
Cano ; and the public fountain, with little 
jets of water spouting from the mouths of 
toads, ducks, snakes, etc., is more curious 
than beautiful. 



{ 



1 1 8 Southern France and Spain. 

\ 

The reader of Irving's ''Granada" will 

find a charm ot historical reminiscence 
hanging about the city and its environs, 
but the o;eneral traveler will find little to 
detain him. 

The regular diligence for Granada starts 
in the evening, compelling the traveler to 
lose the fine scenerv of the route, while the 
mail-stage, Vy'hich has two spare seats onlv, 
leaves just before daylight. We decided 
therefore to send our courier forward with 
the baggage in the evening;^ and follow 
ourselves the next morning;. So at half- 
past two we were called, and set torth for 
the starting place ot the mail-dili2:ence. 
Traversing; various streets, dimlv lig;hted 
by strag;g;ling lamps, we reached a court as 
dark as midnight, in which, feeling about, 
we found a seat. In an hour more the 
horses were hitched, and taking our places, 
we rattled out of the town. 

Our course stretched nearly due north to 
Loja, over the mountains, and for some 
hours we enjoved most beautiful mountain 
scenerv. An hour or so after leavingr 

4 <J 



Chapter XI L — Malaga, 119 

Malaga, one obtains a superb view of the 
city and surrounding country, and the blue 
sea beyond ; and afterwards, as he winds 
along between the lofty peaks of granite 
and marble, with here and there a verdant 
valley, or a peak covered with snow, he 
will not regret his early start instead of the 
night ride. The air was sharp when we 
started, and after a few hours' ride, we had 
reason to praise our own forethought in 
bringing along a well filled basket and 
bottle. 

At Loja we entered upon the famed Vega 
— or plain — of Granada, stretching some 
thirty miles in length by about twenty-five 
in breadth, watered by the Douro, and the 
Xenil and its tributaries, intersected with 
canals, dug for purposes of irrigation by 
the Moors, and rich in beauty and fertility. 

About five o'clock we arrived in Granada, 
and wearied with the journey, sought water, 
food and rest. 



Chapter XIII. 



Granada — Madrid — Saragojsa — Barcelona, 



:J^^3r. 



If 

^ ^ N the town there is little of interest 
\(f^\ ^^c^p^ ^^ Cathedral^ of considerable 
^'^'''' dimensions^ enriched with beautiful 
Spanish marbles. It is called the Cathedral 
of Ave Maria^ and the story of the name is 
as follows : 

When Ferdinand and Isabella were be- 
sieging Granada, Count de Pulgar, a knight 
of great prowefs and audacity, fired with 
zeal to revenge the daring outrage of a 
Moorish warrior, who, sallying forth, had 
thrown his javelin so that it quivered in 
the ground hard by the tent of the Spanish 
sovereigns, gathered together a small band 
of cavaliers of kindred spirit, and riding to 



Chapter XIII , — Granada^ i£c, 121 

an ill-defended gate, on a dark night, at- 
tacked and overpowered the guard there 
stationed. Leaving his companions to 
continue the fight, and keep the gate, he 
put spurs to his horse, galloped to the 
mosque in the centre of the city, and nailed 
to its door with his dagger a placard bearing 
the words ''Ave Maria/' Then he rode 
back again, and, rejoining his companions, 
returned to the Spanish camp. There was 
great indignation of the Moors, and cor- 
responding joy among the Spaniards, when 
the exploit became known, and afterwards, 
when the city was taken, the mosque was 
converted into a Cathedral — on the site of 
which the present Cathedral stands — and 
named the Church of Ave Maria. 

On the high altar of the Royal Chapel is 
a curious bas-relief, representing the sur- 
render of the city by Boabdil ; but the 
most interesting objects are the tombs of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, of most delicately 
wrought alabaster, surmounted by full- 
length figures, of which the attitude and 
exprefsion are most admirable. 

Q 



o -> 



Southei'n France and Spain, 

Before its capture, ''the citv was sur- 
rounded/* savs Irving; in his Granada, " bv 
high walls, three leagues in circuit, furnished 
with twelve o-ates and a thousand and thirty 
towers. Its elevation above the sea, and 
the neig^hborhood of the Sierra Nevada, 
crowned with perpetual snows, tempered 
the ferv^id ravs of summer; so that while 
other cities were panting w^ith the sultry 
and stifling heat of the dog-days, the most 
salubrious breezes played through the mar- 
ble halls of Granada/' 

On one of the hills, twenty-six hundred 
and ninety feet long, and seven hundred 
and thirty broad, in its widest part, sur- 
rounded with lottv walls and towers, stands 
the famous Alhambra. 

Entering the gate, and ascending bv a 
winding; road throug;h groves that are the 
homes of hundreds of nightingales, by the 
side of a stream of crystal water, which, as 
well as the fountains, are furnished by 
canals from the snows of the mountains, 
we soon arrived at the xVlhambra proper, 
or royal palace. 



Chapter XIII , — Granada^ i^c, 123 

This formerly was about four hundred 
feet in length, by two hundred in breadth, 
but portions of it have been torn away for 
various purposes ; and in one part is an 
unfinished palace commenced by Charles 
the Fifth. The Hall of the Ambajsadors^ 
however, thirty-seven feet square, and 
seventy-five in height, overlooking the 
Douro ; the Court of the Lions^ with its 
beautiful fountain, guarded by twelve lions 
little resembling the live animal, surrounded 
by arcades supported by pillars of marble 
and alabaster, and covered with exquisite 
designs, and Arabic inscriptions in stucco ; 
the Hall of the Abencerrages^ where they are 
said to have been murdered, and other 
rooms, are still remaining, and are of 
wondrous beauty, although their ancient 
splendor of gold and brilliant colors has 
been obscured by whitewash. At present, 
however, workmen are busy restoring the 
rooms to their original condition. 

The appearance of these celebrated halls 
has been rendered too familiar by other and 
more al3le writers to warrant me in attempt- 



1 24 Southern France and Spain, 

ing the task^^^^Suffice It to say, that no 
description can do them justice, or repay 
one who is able to do so, for not seeing 
them for himself, and enjoying, on the 
spot, the charming descriptions and legends 
of Irving and other accomplished writers. 

As we stood upon one of the towers, on 
which was a slab recording the date of the 
capture, by Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1492, 
at our feet lay the city and the winding 
stream ; far down as the eye could reach, 
extended the verdant Vega, to the left rose 
the hill where the departing Boabdil took 
his last look upon his beloved city, and 

^*"'~''*->**i<i^,,^ im < i|i| i»i nn « 1111111 ■» m i« ■ii»Tiiirii i w«ii,|| , i - ii -n, ,, ^ ^^ ^^^^ 

behind, seemingly so near that one could 
walk to them in half an hour, rose the 
snow-covered summits of the Sierra. I 
remember no view in Europe, which, for 
beauty and variety, mingled with historic 
and poetical afsociation, can equal it. 
Profefsor Longfellow somewhere exprefses 
a doubt whether Heidelberg or the Alham- 
bra be the finest ruin, but to me the latter 
is very much the more interesting and 
beautiful. 



Chapter XI I L — Granada^ ^c. 125 

On the breast of the hill above the Al- 
hambra is the palace of the Generalife^ 
embowered in flowers and trees, and form- 
ing as fine a summer retreat as one could 
wish ; but the owner has never visited it, 
and it merely serves as a home for the old 
guardian, and an object of interest to the 
traveler. 

Granada was the last remaining kingdom 
of the Moors, after eight hundred years of 
power. In it were gathered all the learning, 
luxury and splendor of the race, and while 
they clung to it with all the ardor of their 
natures, they were long compelled to defend 
it with the sword. But at last, after a long 
siege, during which deeds of desperate valor 
were performed on both sides, Boabdil was 
compelled to surrender his last stronghold, 
and present to the conquerors the golden 
keys of the city. 

"There was crying in Granada, when the sun was going 

down. 
Some calling on the Trinity, some calling on Mahoun ; 
Here pafsed away the Koran, there in the Crofs was 

borne. 
And here was heard the Christian bell, and there the 

Moorish horn. 



\ 



126 Southern France and Spain, 

^^ Te Deurn Laudamus^^ was up the Alcala sung; 
Down from the Alhamra's minarets were all the cres- 
cents flung ; 
The arms thereon of Arragon they with Castile's display ; 
One king comes in, in triumph, one weeping goes away." 

Cui bono? There was the triumph of 
the Christian King over the infidel, but the 
fruits have been allowed to wither and 
decay, and J.n.,^^jg_jcontrast of the ignorant 
and degraded population of the present day 
with the intelligent and laborious inhabi- 
tants who were dispersed, one can read that 
the glory has turned into ashes in the 
victors' grasp, and one more witnefs testifies 
to the fact that the true triumphs of Chris- 
tianity are to be sought, not by means of 
the cannon nor the sword, but through the 
gentler and surer influences of reason, 
aff^ection and example. 

^^From Granada to Madrid, by diligence, 
twenty-two hours, and by rail ten,'' says 
my note-book. And a long and wearisome 
journey it was, for a great part ot the way 
over the same road we had come en ronte 
for Cordova. The change from the charm- 
ing country of Andalusia to the plains of 



Chapter XIII . — Granada^ ^c. 127 

La Mancha, and the cold air of Madrid, 
was not altogether pleasant. Arriving at 
Santa Cruz about eight in the morning, we 
had to wait some four hours for a train. 
We secured a room to lie down in, to which 
we mounted by a ladder. Through the 
cracks of the floor was visible the table 
spread below, and the conversation was, as 
it were, in the same room with us. The 
floor of the first story was literally the 
ground floor, being of hard-beaten earth. 
It was, however, the best accommodation 
the town aff'orded, and we were glad to get 
a little rest. 

We had not been there half an hour 
before half a dozen men and boys were 
playing cards in front of the house, with a 
board for a table, staking copper or silver 
coins, according to the ability of the owners. 
The pafsion for gambling is universal in 
Spain, and there is hardly a person who 
does not have a chance in one of the lot- 
teries, which, a Spaniard told me one day, 
were '^ the only fair things carried on by 
the Government.'' 



12 8 Southern France and Spain. 

Arriving at Madrid in the evening, we 
found our former rooms vacant, and for 
two or three days enjoyed the comforts of 
a good hotel, and the pleasure of the society 
of our friends. 

From Madrid to Sarag^ofsa is only two 
hundred and fifteen miles, but the exprefs 
train was thirteen hours in reaching it. 
Enough of daylight remained for a walk 
about the town, to see its Square and Lean- 
ing Tower, and general characteristics ; and 
in the evening we recalled its military re- 
nown and the fame of the Maid of Saragofsa, 
who performed such wonders in its defense, 
and is rendered immortal by Byron in his 
^^ Childe Harold.'' The city is the resort 
of the pious for the purpose of worship at 
the '^ Pillar of the Virgin'' — a jasper pillar 
on which she is said to have alighted 
from heaven ; and crowds of people resort 
thither on the I2th of October. There are 
about 70,000 inhabitants, but the city is 
not very interesting except to the artist, so 
we proceeded the next day about the same 
distance, at the same rate of speed, to Bar- 



Chapter XIII, — Granada^ i^c, 129 

celona, which derives its name from Barca, 
father of Hannibal. 

Favorably situated in regard to climate^ 
and the chief shipping port of Spain, it 
ranks first among the commercial cities, 
and is second only to Madrid in population 
— having about 184,000 inhabitants. The 
streets are wide, clean, and well paved ; the 
public walk — here called the Rambla — is 
lined with trees, and is a favorite resort of 
both sexes ; and the Opera-House, which, 
however, was closed when we were there, is 
said to be larger than either that at Milan 
or Naples. It is the only city in Spain 
which bears evidence of commercial pros- 
perity, and the bustling, busy lire that 
prevails in commercial cities of other coun- 
tries. Wide avenues, lined with stately 
buildings, are rapidly extending, and the 
population seem to have cast off the cloak 
of the past, which so closely enwraps the 
Spanish character, and to have learned to 
share with the rest of the world in the ac- 
tivity of the present. 

The country through which we pafsed, 



R 



I JO Southern France and Spain. 

coming trom Madrid, is very attractive, 
with wild and rugged mountains, quaint 
villages, old castles, dark olive orchards, 
and beautiful and fertile valleys. The 
people are tall and fine looking, and have 
an air of sturdy independence that one ac- 
quainted with their history might expect to 
find. 




^^H 


B 


B^Bg^g^aj 




M 


M 




^^ 




iKfliS 



Chapter XIV. — Leaving Spain. 




FTER a short stay in Barcelona, we 
proceeded by rail northward, to 
Gerona, where we bade good-bye 
to Manuel, and took the diligence for Per- 
pignan. Soon after starting it began to 
rain, for the first time since we left Bay- 
onne, and soon fell in torrents. When we 
reached Boscara, about twenty miles on the 
way, at the beginning of the mountains, 
the diligence stopped, and the conductor, 
opening our door, said, touching his hat, 
'' II faut coucher ici^ Monsieur '' Sleep there ! 
Why should we not go on ? The rain had 
melted the snow on the mountains, and 
the stream before us in the valley, usually 
fordable, was now a raging torrent, and still 



132 Southern France and Spain. 

rising. What was to be done ? There 
were no inns fit to stay in, and we might 
remain there — as we in fact did — twenty- 
four hours, and it rained harder than ever. 
Slipping a gold piece into the conductor's 
hand, I begged him to see what he could 
do for us, when he recollected a peasant's 
house hard by, where he thought we might 
pofsibly be accommodated. He went to 
ascertain, and presently returned, saying 
that the woman wanted to see us first. 
Luckily, the personal inspection proved 
favorable to our interests, and the good 
man consenting, we were taken to the best 
room in the second story. A very nice 
room it was, too — very plain, and simply 
furnished, and floored with brick, but as 
neat and clean as pofsible. 

Soon came the question what we would 
like to eat, and by dint of help from our 
French-speaking conductor, who came to 
our afsistance, we had a capital meal of 
cutlets and delicious salad — which none 
know so well as Spaniards how to prepare 
— bread, and wine. After dinner we pro- 



Chapter XIV. — Leaving Spain. 133 

ceeded to the kitchen, where the hostefs was 
cooking dinner for her husband, and his 
son and workmen, who were all busy fin- 
ishing an addition to the house. It was a 
veritable olla podrida — such as we had heard 
of, but never tasted. 

Over a small fire of little faggots, in the 
corner of the kitchen, hung a pot, into 
which were put water, cabbage, vermicelli, 
potatoes, bread, salt, an onion and a bit of 
garlic, and a piece of meat. When the 
stew was ready, they all came in and seated 
themselves round the table, in the centre of 
which stood a capacious dish filled with the 
savory mefs. Each had a soup-plate and 
spoon, and proceeded to help himself to the 
olla^ as well as to large slices of bread from 
the loaf. In the dish of the proprietor and 
his wife and son, a thicker stew of potatoes 
and meat was poured. Wine was upon the 
table, in a glafs vefsel of conical form, with 
a small spout at the side, shaped almost 
exactly like a tin oil-can. There was 
nothing to drink out of, however, and I 
was curious to see how the operation would 



134 Southern France and Spain, 

be conducted. We were invited to sit 
down, and having a curiosity to taste the 
olla^ we did so. It was simply a very nice 
thick soup, with a slight flavor of garlic, to 
which, however, one soon becomes accus- 
tomed when traveling in Spain. Presently 
our host lifted the wine jar, and raised it 
towards his mouth, but instead of putting 
it to his lips, he inclined his head a little 
backward, and holding it about four or five 
inches from and above him, let a stream 
flow dextrously down his throat. Each 
followed in turn, and spurred with emula- 
tion, I tried the experiment, succeeding in 
getting some into my mouth, and more 
upon my chin and shirt, much to their 
amusement. 

In the morning, when we rose, a cup of 
hot chocolate was ready for us, and after- 
wards a breakfast much like the dinner of 
the day before. The hostefs, whose heart 
we seemed to have won, took us into her 
private room, and showed us their treasures 
— a large image of the Virgin, richly drefsed, 
and kept in a sort of niche made for the 



Chapter XIV, — Leaving Spain. ^ZS 

purpose, and two large books. These, she 
said, with great pride, their son could read, 
although neither she nor her husband could 
either read or write. During the course of 
conversation, which was carried on chiefly 
by signs, pointing to her husband with one 
hand, she said, ^^Gerona;'' then to herself 
with the other, said, ^'Valencia;" then 
placing her two forefingers together, said, 
^' Barcelona;*' all of which clearly explained 
where they came from, and the place of 
their marriage. 

Finding they had no clear idea as to what 
an Americano might be, I tried to explain 
by saying that we were descendants of 
Christopher Columbus, but although in 
most towns there is a street called by his 
name, they shook their heads with no idea 
at all who Cristobal Colon might be. 

In the morning it cleared off bright and 
warm, and we walked down to the village, 
and found how extremely fortunate we were. 
Four other diligences besides ours had ar- 
rived the previous afternoon, containing in 
all about an hundred persons, men, women 



136 Southern France and Spain. 

and children. A few tried the village inn^ 
but returned to the diligence instead, and 
there sat all night as uncomfortable as well 
could be imagined. At the road side, fires 
were blazing, and the hungry party, having 
procured something to eat, were engaged in 
cooking it. Looking at them, all wet, 
hungry, and bedraggled, we blefsed the 
power of the piece of gold. One stout, 
tall woman, with a little, insignificant hus- 
band, was particularly miserable, and poured 
forth volumes of bad French, while her 
lord stood meekly by, much like a bantam 
rooster well soaked with rain. 

Strolling down to the stream, we found 
it a river half a mile in width, rushing 
furiously along, carrying awav fences, crops, 
and trees. Small hopes of crofsing that 
day — so we walked up to the village, and 
congratulated ourselves that we were not 
compelled to stay in such a wretched, ill- 
favored, dirty place. The sun was warm, 
and we pafsed the morning in walking. 
About noon the water had decreased con- 
siderably, and by four o'clock a rope ferry 



Chapter XIV, — Leaving Spain, 137 

had been organized, sufficient to convey 
pafsengers and baggage. So bidding good- 
bye to our kind host and hostefs, and 
leaving a substantial testimonial in her 
hand, we set forward again. Arriving on 
the other side, we took in exchange the 
diligence which had been detained there on 
the southward route, and proceeded on 
our way. 

The ride over the Pvrenees is a verv fine 
one, and the full moon, silvering the tops 
of the mountains and deepening the shadows 
of the valleys, perhaps rather heightened 
the effect. 

In the middle of the night we reached 
the French frontier, and were compelled to 
dismount while the baggage was being 
searched. Accordingly about twenty sleepy 
people gathered in a small room, while all 
the baggage was unloaded and ranged upon 
the counter. Getting my pieces together, 
I called the attention of the official, and 
answering the familiar, ^^ (^uelque chose a 
declarer^ Monsieur^'' in the negative, had my 
trunks marked without opening them. 



s 



138 Southern France and Spain, 

The little man and his big wife were in a 
great stew. They were moving into France, 
and had all their worldly goods with them 
in trunks and boxes, and bundles, carefully 
corded up. Very minute inquiries were 
made concerning the contents of so much 
impedimenta^ and suggestions of the necefsity 
of cutting the cords for the purpose of ex- 
amination, were thrown out, causing the 
little man to turn pale with fright, and the 
large woman to grow scarlet with indigna- 
tion. At last, after much talking — and 
perhaps the exchange of a few pesetas — 
quien sabe? — the packages were all marked, 
and with relieved minds the owners climbed 
into the stage again. About three o'clock 
we arrived at Perpignan, and were at last 
fairly out of Spain. 



Chapter XV. — General Remarks, 




PAIN, as regards climate, is divided 



into three sections, running from east 
to west. The northern, with its rivers 
fed by the snows of the Pyrenees, is better 
irrigated than the rest of the country, but 
has cold winters and wet springs. The 
middle section is generally composed of 
vast and elevated plateaux of a mean ele- 
vation of about 1,900 feet, bounded and 
traversed by mountain ridges, which, how- 
ever, are destitute of trees, and in conse- 
quence the country is dry. In winter the 
winds sweep unobstructed over the land, 
rendering it very cold, and in summer 
every thing is parched and withered by the 
blazing sun. The southern section, lower 



140 Southern France and Spain, 

and sheltered by the mountains on the 
north, is more tropical in its temperature, 
with winters rather rainy than cold, hot 
summers, and delicious autumns and 
springs. 

The mountains are rich in minerals and 
metals, and the products of the temperate 
and tropical zones may be cultivated in 
profusion. 

The want of trees is a serious injury to 
the country. Mr. Marsh, in Tiis "Man 
and Nature," says : " The laws of almost 
every European State more or lefs ade- 
quately secure the permanence of the foresx^-- 
and I believe Spain is almost the only 
European land which has not made some 
public provision for the protection and 
restoration of the woods — the only country 
whose people systematically war UporTTEe 
garden of God.'' 

In a note he adds: "Antonio Ponzsays: 
' Nor would this be so great an evil, were 
not some of them declaimers against trees^ 
thereby proclaiming themselves, in some 
sort, enemies of the works of God, who 



Chapter XV. — General Remarks, 141 

gave us the leafy abode of Paradise to dwell 
in, where we should be even now sojourn- 
ing, but for the first sin which expelled, us 
from it/ 

'^ I do not know at what period the two 
Castiles were bared of their woods, but the 
Spaniard's proverbial 'hatred of a tree' is 
of long standing. Herrera vigorously 
combats this foolish prejudice ; and Ponz, 
in the prologue to the ninth volume of his 
'^ Journey,'' says that many carried it so far 
as wantonly to destroy the shade and orna- 
mental trees planted by the municipal au- 
thorities. 'Trees,' they contended, and 
still believe, ' breed birds, and birds eat up 
the grain.' Our author argues against the 
supposition of the ' breeding of birds by 
trees,' w^hich, he says, is as absurd as to 
believe that an elm tree can yield pears ; 
and he charitably suggests that the ex- 
prefsion is, perhaps, a maniere de dire — a 
popular phrase, signifying simply that trees 
harbor birds." 

Madrid is the great railroad centre of 
Spain. Thence ifsues one road north-west to 



1^2 Southern France and Spain, 

Bayonne, one north-east through Saragofsa 
to Barcelona, one south-easterly to Valencia, 
one southerly to Toledo, Cordova, Seville 
and Cadiz, and one westerly to Lisbon. 

From a recent letter of W. C. Bryant, I 
extract the following : 

^^ When I was in Spain, nine years since, 
there were but two good macadamized 
highways in the kingdom, of any consider- 
able length, and these traversed it from 
north to south, connecting some of the 
principal cities. There were a few other 
carriage roads, scandalously neglected, and 
pafsable with difficulty, like that from 
Madrid to Alicante, or that between Ali- 
cante and Carthagena ; but in general the 
realm was only intersected by bridle paths, 
along which the products of the country 
were conveyed to market on the backs of 
donkeys and mules. Nine years since 
there was only a bridle path to connect the 
two capitals of Spain and Portugal, and 
travelers went from Madrid to Lisbon on 
horseback — a curious illustration of the 
little intercourse between the two nations. 



Chapter XV, — General Remarks. 143 

Now you step into a railway carriage at 
Madrid, in the centre oF the Peninsula^ 
and in a few hours are at Lisbon, on the 
Atlantic;"^ Railway lines now connect Spain 
wittr^Trance, and form channels of com- 
munication between each province and the 
capital, and between each of them and the 
rest. The great line which takes the trav- 
eler southward from Madrid to Cordova, is 
one of the grandest enterprises of its kind. 
Ascending the Sierra Morena by a track 
winding along its northern slopes, it threads 
the grim defiles of that mountain range, 
between lofty precipices, crofses fearful 
chasms, pierces the ridges with frequent 
tunnels, spans torrent after torrent with 
iron bridges, runs in galleries hewn in the 
living rock, or between walls of masonry 
built to uphold the sliding soil, pafses 
along high and solid causeways, and de- 
scends into Andalusia by extensive sweeps 
on the mountain sides, overlooking the 
fertile valleys below. At every step it 
gives tokens of the vast expense at which 
it was constructed. 






1 44 Southern France and Spain, 

'' But those who build railways expect to 
deriv^e a profit from them, and those of 
Spain, with an inconsiderable exception or 
two, are a constant lofs to the proprietors. 
How could it well be otherwise ? Here is 
a country which has so little commerce be- 
tween its different districts, that it has not 
found it expedient to connect them by 
highways — and how can it be expected that 
its internal commerce will support an ex- 
pensive system of railroads ? 

'^ I heard two Spanish gentlemen dis- 
cufsing this subject the other day. One of 
them was sayino- that there was not trade 
enough to make the railways profitable, 
althouq;h the number of pafsengers was 
considerable. ''Yes,'* said the other, ''but 
trade will choose the cheapest methods of 
conveyance. The donkey's back is the old 
Spanish way of sending o^oods from place 
to place, and wall continue to be used till 
we get something cheaper. The railway 
must underbid the donkey before it will be 
accepted as a substitute.'' He then went 
on to complain that goods sent by rail did 



Chapter XV, — General Remarks. 145 

not always reach their destination. One 
man had sent a number of skins of oil, and 
only a part of them came to hand. An- 
other had put a different commodity on 
board of the train, with the same bad luck. 

'' Th^ trutL is, that _ the whole manage- 
ment of the Spanish railwa ys is m iserably 
slipshod, and deficient in order and punctu- 
ality. _Long delays occur at the stopping 
places ; petty accidents are always taking 
place; a train which should connect with 
another arrives kOO late, and the traveler 
finds himself obl'ged to wait twenty-four 
hours before he can proceed. It would not 
be at all strange if goods entrusted to such 
negligent hands should sometimes mifs 
their way. 

'^When, however, caution occasions de- 
lay, the Spanish railways are managed cau- 
tiously enough. The trains proceed slowly 
over bridges and along hillsides ; they begin 
to slacken the speed of the engines for two 
or three miles before the train stops, so as 
to come to a pause in the most gradual 
manner pofsible. In pafsing the Sierra 



146 Southeryi France and Spain. 

Morena, we came to where a torrent had 
carried away one of the brido-es, and a tern- 
porarv support of the rails had been sub- 
stituted. The train stopped^ and we were 
detained an hour while this support was 
further strengthened. xA. French eng^ineer 
connected with the road was on the train, 
and went out to see what was 9;oing on. 
When he returned he told us that there 
would not have been the least danger in 
pafsing the stream without a moment's de- 
lav, but that the conductoV had refused to 
take the responsibility. 

"^^ The tares paid by pafsengers are high, 
and so, I hear, are the rates of freight ; but 
that does not help the matter. There are 
interruptions in some ot the railway lines, 
which, in consequence ot their unproduc- 
tivenefs, will probably remain as they are 
for some time to come. One of these we 
meet in crofsing the Pyrenees between Per- 
pignan and Gerona; another is between 
Tarragona and Valencia. A railway has 
been completed leading from one of the 
main routes to Granada, but there is no 



Chapter XF. — General Remarks, 147 

train running upon it, and nobody knows 
when there will be. Spain, in short, is 
earlier with her railways than with her com- 
merce, and the donkey still maintains a 
succefsful rivalry with the locomotive. 
Her railways are much like her rivers — 
channels for a current to flow in, but the 
current bears no proportion to the spacious- 
nefs of the channel/' 

One of the chief influences of the rail- 
roads in Spain will be the introduction of 
new and liberal ideas, for it is a fact that 
railways, facilitating commerce and travel, 
constitute a moral power which no religious 
or secular opprefsion can, in the end, suc- 
cefsfully withstand. 

Of late, her manufactures and commerce 
have largely increased, and education, 
though at a shamefully low ebb, has begun 
to revive. The confiscation of large church 
revenues afforded means for attracting for- 
eign enterprise, and when the last of the 
Bourbons shall have disappeared, her ad- 
vance bids fair to be rapid. 

It is curious to examine the laws of Spain 



148 Southern France and Spain, 

in force only sixty or sev^entv years ago, in 
estimating the progrefs of the nation. I 
cite a few from a work published in 1805, 
and translated by an English barrister in 
1825: 

'^Natural born subjects are prohibited, 
under pain of lofs of property and perpetual 
banishment, from going out of the kinQ;dom 
for the purpose of study, excepting in the 
uniyersities of Bologna, Coimbra, Rome, 
and Naples/' 

'^ They can not wear other clothes than 
those manufactured in the kingdom/* 

It was prohibited to g;rant the rights oi 
naturalization to foreigners, who wxre only 
permitted to use the clothes they brought, 
contrary to the ordinance, for the space of 
six months after they entered Spain. 

^^ It may be added that amono-st us the 
following, and other like punishments, 
being considered barbarous, are obsolete : 
Burning alive, unlejs for being a Jew^'' etc., 

etc. 

'^ Advocates who do not practice or pur- 
sue their profefsion according to law, or are 



Chapter XV, — General Remarks. 149 

guilty of falsehood and malice, pay all the 
damages and prejudices they may cause to 
the parties, besides double the amount^ This 
might be advantageously re-enacted in most 
cities of the present day. 

Blasphemers were of two kinds. The first 
of God and the most holy Virgin [Maria 
Santijsima). These had their tongues cut 
out and received one hundred stripes, if the 
crime were committed in court, and if out 
of it, had half their property confiscated, 
instead of receiving the stripes. The sec- 
ond clafs — blasphemers of the king — had 
half their property confiscated if they had 
children, and all if they had none, besides 
suffering ten years' condemnation to the 
galleys. This rule might seriouslv affect 
Mr. Ashley and General Butler, if it were 
in force in our country at present. 

These laws, however, are not severe 
enough for the present Government of 
Spain, as the Governor of Castile has lately 
ifsued a proclamation that all persons who 
write, edit, or print papers against religion, 
the Queen, or the Government, shall be 



1 50 Southern France and Spain, 

punished with death ! From writing, the 
progrefs to speaking will be easy, and the 
subjects of Queen Isabella will have as great 
religious, but not as great civil liberty, as 
those of Philip II. 

The sender of a challenge forfeited his 
property, and fighting a duel was punished 
with lofs of property and life. The re- 
ceiver of a challenge was punished with 
banishment. 

For being excommunicated thirty days, a 
man was fined six hundred maravedis ; if he 
should remain so six months, he must pay 
six thousand maravedis ; after that he was 
fined one hundred per day, and banished 
from the place, under pain, in case of re- 
turning, of confiscation of his property. 
So that a party who paid his tv/o dollars, 
and was excommunicated for speaking to a 
woman in the Cathedral at Granada, stood 
a chance of paying dear for his thought- 
lefsnefs. 

Heretics could neither inherit nor be 
witnefses, and were liable to be punished 
with confiscation of property. They were 



Chapter XV. — General Remarks, 151 

pronounced heretics by the Inquisition, 
but the penalty was inflicted by the civil 
tribunals. 

Playing at cards, or dice, in public, was 
forbidden, unlefs something to eat imme- 
diately was played for. 

Beggars who could work might be 
driven out of the place, and receive fifty 
stripes. 

The following niay be commended to 
the various clerical and lay patrons of lot- 
teries : 

'^ Raflles and games of chance, even under 
pretense of devotion^ are prohibited under the 
penalty of forfeiture of the things rafiied 
for ; and, besides, the price put down or 
paid to raffle, with as much more on the 
part of those who put it dow^n or pay it." 

Just now, it would be difficult to state 
whether any law except the will of the 
Oueen and her advisers will be observed. 
Having laid aside the constitution, banished 
her husband and sister, and various promi- 
nent Liberals, and entrusted herself to the 
guidance of the absolutists in Church and 



152 Southern France and Spain, 

State, those who hope for the future wel- 
fare of Spain can only trust to the moral 
certainty that a re-action must result sooner 
or later. 

The traveler in Spain, as in other coun- 
tries, must expect to put up with many 
inconveniences. He must not get into an 
ill humoT^f the cars be slow, or the dili- 
gences meet with disaster; if men insist 
upon closing""^windows, while they smoke, 
through the night, in a confined space, or 
puff cigarettes between the courses at 
breakfast ; or, in small towns, sit with their 
hats on at meals ; if the waitrefs at a hotel 
is crofs, and leads him about from one un- 
comfortable room to another, without 
showing him the best for a time, when he 
arrives at a town at a late hour, he must 
forgive her ; if the beggars pester him, he 
must be ready to smile, and if not willing, 
or prepared, to scatter coppers, to say, 
'^ God go with you;'' he must submit 
with good grace to the extortion of paying 
three or four dollars for a lunch of a 
chicken and a few sandwiches, or three or 



Chapter XV, — General Remarks. 153 

four per cent, for exchange on London, 
payable in paper, which he must afterwards 
exchange for gold at a lofs of two or three 
per cent. ; he must forego the luxury of 
fires, and of good tea and coffee, contenting 
himself with a brazier and excellent choco- 
late ; he must be willing, with Sterne, to 
spend a shilling or two, more or lefs, without 
being made unhappy thereby, just as if he 
were riding in a hack, in one of our Ameri- 
can cities ; in a word, he must be prepared 
to encounter either evil or good fortune in 
the spirit of a true traveling philosopher. 

So doing, shall he reap great pleasure and 
profit from his labor of travel. 







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